The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has reserved for judgement an appeal filed by the Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, challenging the judgment of Justice Kazeem Alogba of a Lagos High Court.
Gov Chime had instituted a N1.5 billion libel suit against his opponent in the 2007 gubernatorial election, Chief Okechukwu Ezea and The Guardian Newspapers Limited.
In his statement of claim, Chime accused Ezea of addressing a press conference on or about August 11, 2007, attended by numerous representatives of the press in Abuja, where he allegedly accused Chime of wanting to kill him.
The governor submitted that his personal and leadership reputation had been seriously damaged, adding that he had suffered considerable distress and embarrassment.
He therefore demanded N1 billion as damages from Ezea and N500, 000 from The Guardian, being damages for the alleged libelous publication contained on page seven of the newspaper dated August 14, 2007.
But, Justice Alogba had dismissed the suit and awarded a cost of N100, 000 in favour of the two defendants.
Dissatisfied, the governor filed an appeal against the decision of the lower court.
At the resumed hearing of the appeal on Tuesday, the appellate court presided over by Justice Rita Pemu reserved the appeal for judgement after counsel on both sides adopted their briefs of arguments.
Counsel to the governor, Fred Onuobia urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the lower court.
He submitted that the lower court judge erred in law when he held that his client failed to prove that his opponent, Chief Ezea uttered the defamatory statements complained of at the Abuja Press Conference on August 7, 2007.
He argued that the lower court in its judgement jettisoned and attached no weight to a Vanguard Newspaper publication of the libel on the grounds that Vanguard unlike the Guardian Newspapers limited was not sued as the printer and publisher of the defamatory statements.
He further submitted that the lower court erred when it held that the words published in The Guardian newspaper were incapable of defaming the governor.
In his brief of argument however, the opposing counsel Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgement of the lower court.
