Lai Mohammed sues news platform for alleged defamation, demands N100bn compensation

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has filed a lawsuit against an online publication, Pointblank News, for alleged defamation.

In a suit filed at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, the minister is demanding N50 billion as aggravated and exemplary damages for alleged libel from the defendant.

He asked the court to award another N50 billion general damages against the news platform for alleged libelous publications against him.

The respondents are the Publisher of Pointblank News, Mr. Johnson Ude, and its Editor, Uduma Mba.

Mohammed said the defendants exclusively published reports in their medium, alleging his involvement in a purported N10 billion fraud.

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The court document read: “The defendants made a publication described as ‘Exclusive Pointblanknews.com investigations’ and written under the very bold banner and title: ‘Lai Mohammed in N10 billion Fraud Scandal as ICPC swoops on NBC,” published on August 3, 2021.

“They published another one tagged as ‘Lai Mohammed, NBC head for showdown over N10 billion Fraud, Minister in Hot Deal with Interpol Most Wanted,” published on Aug. 11, 2021.”

No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.

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