Nigerian govt, Lai absent as court gives order on Secondus’ name on looter’s list

A High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday granted one of prayers the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus sought in his suit challenging the inclusion of his name in the looters’ list by the Federal Government.

The court order restrained the FG and the Minister of Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, from further mentioning of Secondus name in the recently released list of looters by the government.

The court order is in response to one of two prayers in Secondus’ motion seeking interlocutory injunction in restraining the defendants from further publishing what he said is a libelous content

In the looters’ list released by Mohammed, the FG had accused Secondus of collecting N200 million on 19 February 2015 from the office of then National Security Advicer (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki.

But Secondus had dragged the FG along with Mohammed as well as Vintage Press, publishers of Nation newspapers to court in a suit marked PHC/1013/2018, demanding for N1.5 billion as damages for alleged libel.

The presiding Judge and Chief Judge of RIvers State, Justice I. A. Iyayi-Lamikanta, granted the order in the absence of the defendants and their counsels, who were not present in the opening hearing of the matter.

The Judge subsequently adjourned the matter till April 28.

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Aside N1.5 billion Secondus is claiming to be paid to him as damages in the substantive suit, he is also among other claims, asking the court that defendants retract the libelous material in as many media as they published it.

Ahead of the adjourned date, the court ordered that the plaintiff’s counsels serve the defendants hearing notice, same way they served them the originating processes and the accompanying documents in the newspaper.

 

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