The Ondo State Commissioner for Finance, Omowunmi Isaac, and her brother, Kunle Odide, have instituted a libel action against 35 leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over an alleged defamatory statement in which the commissioner was reportedly described as “the governor’s mummy”.
The suit was filed before the Ondo State High Court in Akure, the state capital, amid growing political tensions within the ruling APC in Ondo State.Politics
When the matter came up on Tuesday, the claimants sought the court’s permission to amend defects identified in the originating court processes.
Presiding judge, Justice Yemi Fasanmi, granted the application but ordered the claimants to pay N100,000 in costs to each of the 35 respondents.
The order means the commissioner and her brother are required to pay costs to all the defendants as a condition arising from the amendment application.
Court documents indicate that the action centres on remarks allegedly made by the APC leaders which the claimants contend were defamatory and damaging to the commissioner’s reputation.
The expression “governor’s mummy” has become the focal point of the dispute, although the full context in which it was allegedly used has not yet been publicly tested in court.
Neither the Ondo State Government nor the APC respondents had issued an official statement on the substance of the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
The case is the latest indication of internal strains within the Ondo APC.
The matter was adjourned for further proceedings, during which the amended processes are expected to be regularised and the respondents given the opportunity to react formally to the libel claims.
Under Nigerian law, a claimant in a civil libel action must establish that the allegedly defamatory statement was published to third parties, referred to the claimant, and was capable of lowering the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society.History
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