Atiku appears in court, signs N2.5bn libel suit against Lauretta Onochie

Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar appeared in court to sign his witness deposition in support of the N2.5 billion libel suit filed against President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant on social media, Lauretta Onochie.

Atiku Abubakar who showed up at the Federal High Court in Abuja in company of his legal team led by Mike Ozekhome, is seeking the sum of N2.5bn from Lauretta Onochie as ”general, aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages”.

The libel suit was filed in June 2019 after Buhari’s aide published a story on her twitter handle and facebook page, claiming that Atiku was on the UAE watch list.

Mike Ozekhome said the reliefs sought by the former vice-president are: “An order of this honourable court compelling the defendant to make a retraction of, and apology to, the claimant, for the said offensive twitter and facebook publications on the same platforms, also to be published in three national newspapers with wide circulation within the country and also broadcast on AIT, Channels and NTA television stations, consequent upon the untold embarrassment, public ridicule, odium, obloquy, derision, marital disharmony, mental agony and psychological trauma which the defendant’s said defamatory twitter and facebook publications have caused the claimant.

“An order of this honourable court compelling the defendant to write to the claimant, a letter of unreserved apology for the said offensive twitter and facebook publications which were widely circulated vide the defendant’s twitter/facebook handles and also published globally online on the social and other print media, consequent upon the embarrassment, ridicule, derision, marital disharmony, mental agony and psychological trauma which the Defendant’s said defamatory twitter and facebook publications have caused the claimant.

“An order directing the defendant to pay to the claimant, the sum of N2,500,000,000,000.00 (two billion, five hundred million naira) only, representing general, aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages over the untold embarrassment, derision, public ridicule, odium, obloquy, marital disharmony, mental agony and psychological trauma which the Defendant’s publications have caused the claimant.”