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| Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN |
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice,
Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has slammed a N10.2 billion libel suit
on the Executive Secretary of Anti-corruption Network, Mr. Dino Melaye,
at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In the suit, Adoke accused Melaye of damaging his reputation in a
publication of April 12 where he accused him of corrupt practices,
obstruction of justice for corrupt elements and abuse of power as
minister of justice. Besides the N10.2 billion Adoke is seeking from Melaye for defamation,
he has also asked for N200 million as the cost of litigation.
The minister, who has assembled an 11-man team for the legal battle,
asked the court for “an order of perpetual injunction restraining
Melaye and other defendants from further inferring in any manner
whatsoever with his reputation.” Members of his legal team include Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN); Donald Denigwe (SAN); Babajide Koku (SAN); and Ahmed Raji (SAN).
Melaye had raised seven allegations bordering on abuse of office
against Adoke, including the controversial cases on the N150 billion
recovered fromformer Oceanic Bank Managing Director, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru,
the $180 million Halliburton scandal and the return of the Vaswani
brothers to Nigeria after an alleged N2.5 billion tax evasion. He also alleged that the AGF raised a memo on the case of the Vaswani
brothers who were deported for a second time in April 2009 for an
alleged N2.5 billion tax evasion that they should be allowed to return
to Nigeria.
Melaye further accused the minister of dereliction of duty by not
re-filing the dismissal by Justice Archibong of the Federal High Court
of the N10 billion money laundering charge preferred against a former
Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, on
the grounds of shoddy prosecution.
But the minister in his statement of claim, averred that the
defendants deliberately and intentionally authorised the publication of
the report knowing that it was meant to tarnish his reputation in the
estimation of all right thinking persons of the country. He stated that his attention was drawn to the libellous publication by his son, Habib, and other senior lawyers.
Adoke argued that the words used in the publication conveyed the
impression that he was a dishonourable person, who associated with
criminals and economic saboteurs. He also stated that the publication implied that he was sabotaging the efforts of the federal government to tackle corruption. Adoke said the publication implied that he was a dishonest person assisting oil thieves and criminals. He argued that the publication revealed that he was not a fit and
proper person to occupy any position of authority, including that of the
AGF. He said because of the false and defamatory publication, his
hard-earned reputation, character and achievements had been severely
tarnished.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/adoke-sues-melaye-for-libel-demands-n10-2bn/148192/
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