AIT Apologizes to Tinubu, N150bn Suit withdrawn

DAAR Communications Plc, the owner of African Independent Television, on Friday apologised to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over “Lion of Bourdillon” claim.

Tinubu consequently withdrew the N150bn libel suit he instituted against AIT for allegedly defaming his reputation.

Tinubu filed the suit last March in protest against a documentary titled “Lion of Bourdillon” aired repeatedly on AIT in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

The former Lagos State governor had, through his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), claimed that the documentary was targeted at lessening him in the estimation of the public, to the effect that he corruptly enriched himself while holding public office.

Justice Iyabode Akinkugbe, who presided over the case, had on April 1, last year, granted Tinubu an interlocutory injunction barring AIT from further airing “Lion of Bourdillon” pending the determination of the suit.

The defendant, through its lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), had claimed that “Lion of Bourdillon” did not defame Tinubu and that all its content was not false and had been in the public domain before AITstarted airing the documentary.

In addition, DAAR Communications filed a counter-claim demanding N200bn as “aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages” from Tinubu for what it termed damage to its corporate image.

But at the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, both lawyers told the judge that their clients had settled the case out of court and prayed the court to adopt the terms of settlement they filed as the judgement of the court in the case.

Ozekhome said, “We are before My Lord this morning to do what the court has always encouraged litigants to do.

“We have come here today that every war that is fought is finally resolved at the round table.

“Parties have decided to settle amicably to enable both parties to continue with the good relationship that they have always had before the devil struck.”

Olanipekun aligned himself with Ozekhome and urged the court to adopt the said settlement terms dated January 29, 2016.

Consequently, Justice Akinkugbe, in a short ruling, adopted the settlement terms as the judgement in the suit.

The judge said DAAR Communications Plc would publicly and unequivocally retract the said documentary “three times, once daily.”

She asked the defendant to tender an unreserved apology to Tinubu, “three times, once daily.”

She ordered them to withdraw their claims and counter-claims respectively and held that they would respectively bear the cost spent by them on the suit.

The terms of settlement was backed with a letter of apology, in which DAAR Communications begged Tinubu and described him as an “outstanding political leader of unblemished character and integrity” and prayed that he would live long “to make more enormous contributions to the advancement of our nation, Nigeria.”

The letter read in part, “DAAR Communications Plc acknowledges that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is an outstanding political leader of unblemished character and integrity, as well as a leading public figure and opinion-moulder, who has made and continuously make immense contributions to the progress and development of the nation in general and Lagos State in particular.

“DAAR Communications Plc admits that in airing the said documentary, it had no intention, whatsoever, to embarrass or diminish the high reputation of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu which it respects and attests to.”

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Biafra: Dutch lawyers petition ICC, accuse FG

Two Dutch lawyers have petitioned the International Criminal Court over Federal Government’s handling of pro-Biafra protests.

The lawyers, Prof. Göran Sluiter and Andrew Ianuzzi, in the petition filed on behalf of the Indigenous People of Biafra and 17 Nigerian ‘victims’, said there were reasons to believe that the government, President Muhammadu Buhari, and others committed crimes against humanity.

According to the petition, the crimes fall within the context of murder, unlawful imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, other inhumane acts, and persecution in their bid to stop pro-Biafra protests.

IPOB is a movement dedicated to the self-determination of the former Republic of Biafra in South-Eastern Nigeria. It said the identities of the 17 victims would not be disclosed to the OTP yet in order to ensure their safety and protect their privacy, but that their statements had been attached to the petition.

The petitioners described the alleged crimes committed by the accused parties as politically and ethnically motivated in the document signed by Sluiter on January 29, 2016.

To support their claims, the petitioners said they were relying on a selected number of publicly available reports documenting Nigeria’s political background, the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–70 (also known as the Biafran War), the recent and violent crimes committed in South-Eastern Nigeria, the Nigerian Federal Government’s involvement in those crimes (including its lack of any remedial action whatsoever in response to the bloodshed), and the OTP’s preliminary findings with respect to its ongoing investigation into the situation in Nigeria.”

It said that the petition was filed to the “Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute…” The petitioners said there were documents to prove that at least 18 persons had been unlawfully killed in Onitsha, Anambra State by the police and/or the Joint Task Force over pro-Biafra protests.

It said, “These unlawful killings took place in four separate incidents, namely: August 22, August 30, December 2, and December 17, 2015.

“Moreover, an additional five individuals were reportedly killed by the police in Port Harcourt in November 2015. And at least two others have reportedly been killed recently in Abia State.

“Each of the victims was a member of IPOB or Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, and the executions took place as part of the Federal Government’s widespread and systematic attack against pro-Biafran activists and sympathisers.”

The document noted that there had been a history of tense and violent relations between Nigeria’s Muslim north and Christian south since independence, adding that cultural and political differences between dominant ethnic groups “have consistently wreaked havoc on the country’s political landscape.”

Describing the detention of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as unlawful, the document criticised President Buhari’s statement during a television interview that the Federal Government would continue to detain Kanu despite a High Court release order.

Noting the police clampdown on the recent activities of members of IPOB and MASSOB, the document said, “so far the following arrests have been made viz: Anambra State – four; Imo State – six; Delta State -11; and Abia State – one.

“The Inspector-General of Police (Solomon Arase) further warns that all persons so arrested for inciting violence, irrespective of their class or status in the society would be charged to court accordingly.

“The Federal Government’s message was clear: the question of self-determination in Biafra would be treated as a national-security matter; participants would be dealt with swiftly and harshly.”

According to the document, Sluiter holds a chair in international criminal law at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam and is a partner at the Amsterdam law firm of Prakken d’Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers. It described Ianuzzi as an independent legal consultant and human-rights investigator.”

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