Tony John, Port Harcourt
A High Court in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Augusta Chuku, has awarded N250 million as damages in favour of former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, against the former Human Rights Commission chairman, Chidi Odinkalu.
The court also awarded N300,000 as cost of court process against Odinkalu and one other.
Justice Chuku, in her judgment, agreed that Odinkalu published a libelous, malicious and defamatory article against the former Rivers State governor.
The trail judge also restrained the defendants from further publication of the book and should retract the publication in two national dailies.
Justice Chuku described the publication as distasteful, which she said was done with ill-intention with malicious content.
She said the defendants even abandoned the case and failed to bring forth further evidence to prove their defence.
Speaking to newsmen outside the court, counsel for the claimant, Ifedayo Adedipe, welcomed the judgment, which he said has proven that the image of his client was actually damaged by the defendants.
No counsel represented the defendants in court during the judgment.
Odili had instituted a suit against Odinkalu and publisher of a book in Lagos on October 31, 2018, accusing the defendants of damaging his image through a false and malicious publications contained in his book, entitled: “Too Good to Die,” a publication, which, he said, was untrue and placed him in bad light and lowered his image.