Anti-corruption group, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has filed a defamation suit against former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) over false and malicious claims which the group said tarnished its hard-earned reputation.
In a suit filed at the FCT High Court in Abuja, HEDA is asking Adoke to withdraw the malicious publications and pay N100m as damages.
Adoke is the solicitor for main suspects in the OPL 245 scam which saw Nigeria lose billions of dollars to corrupt officials in dirty oil deals.
HEDA’s lawyers are demanding N100m as damages and a retraction of the false claims.
The group says it has assembled a team of lawyers led by renowned human rights lawyer, Kunle Adegoke (SAN) to prosecute the case.
In the writ of summons, HEDA said attempts were being made to subvert the wheel of justice in the ongoing criminal trial of parties connected with the OPL 245 settlement agreement in Italy and Nigeria.
It said in the process of covering up dirty tracks, suspects in the high profile case resorted to blackmail and arm-twisting tactics targeting HEDA, which is leading the global campaign, and its leaders.
HEDA’s lawyers said the allegations in the said statements are injurious to the character, reputation and integrity of the organization.
The lawyers said Adoke is aware that HEDA did not forge the email dated 21st June, 2021 or the interview between Adoke and Ms. Carlamaria; and neither did it collude with investigators and public prosecutors in Milan, Italy and Nigeria with the unlawful aim of procuring false documentary evidence for use in subverting the wheel of justice
The HEDA Chairman, Suraju Olanrewaju, said he was alarmed to receive several telephone calls and messages from his friends, professional colleagues, associates and well-wishers on the subject of the statements credited to Adoke by describing it (HEDA) and its officials as committing the offence of forgery.
“As a matter of fact, some of my friends could not fathom how I could engage in activities causing embarrassment to the organization,” Olanrewaju said.
Adegoke said on 1st April, 2021, that Olanrewaju was invited by men of the Nigeria Police (IGP Monitoring Unit) and confronted with a handwritten statement of Adoke where he specifically named him as the person who forged the email dated 21st June, 2021 and the telephone interview alleged to have occurred between Carlamaria Rumor and the Adoke.
“Suraju Olanrewaju was grilled by the police for upwards of about nine hours and still being investigated on the false allegations of Adoke till date,” he said.
He said the news of Olanrewaju’s arrest and detention was circulated in all mainstream and online news media, wherein he was maligned and utterly embarrassed on account of the malicious publications.
He said the false and heinous allegations of forgery inflicted grievous damage on him and his organisation.
HEDA insists that since the time of the publication, other well-meaning persons and organisations both locally and internationally have written to Adoke demanding that he should withdraw his false publication and tender an apology but he has blatantly refused.
HEDA is seeking a declaration that the publications were harmful.
The group is also seeking an order compelling Adoke to immediately withdraw the said publication and statements published worldwide on various national daily newspapers, mainstream and online news media and tender an unreserved apology in two national daily newspapers circulating all over the federation
He asked the court to compel Adoke to pay damages to the claimant in the sum of N100m as compensation for the reputation of the claimant that the defendant has put on the line maliciously.
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