Amaechi & The N300 Billion Libel Suit

The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, has filed a suit at an Abuja High court against the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, its chairman, Felix Obuah, and two others, over allegations of foreign accounts ownership and embezzlement against him.

The governor is seeking from the party and its officials N300 billion for general damages done to him and defamation of his character, reputation and person.

The PDP had in a statement in August alleged that Mr. Amaechi stole $757million (N80 billion) of Rivers State public funds and stashed them away in an account in his name in Bancorp Bank in Minnesota, United States of America.

Thailand: Reporters face defamation charges

Two journalists are on trial in the southern Thai island of Phuket for allegedly defaming the Thai navy.

Their charges stem from a July 2013 online article which included a paragraph, originally published by Reuters, on human trafficking.

Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of website Phuketwan, who pleaded not guilty, face up to seven years in jail.

Reuters quoted an unnamed smuggler that Thai naval forces made money from turning a blind eye to trafficking.

Reuters has since won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the Rohingya which included that particular article. The wire agency does not face any charges.

Officials arrested

The trial opened with a navy captain testifying he filed the defamation case on behalf of the navy, a lawyer representing the journalists told AFP news agency.

“He also confirmed that the Phuketwan quotes were lifted from [the] Reuters article,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

The BBC’s Jonah Fisher says that despite its small size, Phuketwan has a well-earned reputation for reporting on the smuggling and abuse of Rohingya, who come from Myanmar (also known as Burma).

Jury awards patient $500K due to doctor’s defamatory comments while he was sedated for colonoscopy

Now this is funny!

ABA reports

A Virginia jury last week awarded an unidentified patient $500,000, including $200,000 in punitive damages, because of defamatory comments made by his anesthesiologist while he was sedated for a colonoscopy.

Intending to capture his doctor’s post-procedure instructions, the patient, referred to as D.B., had left his smartphone in record mode during the colonoscopy. However, it was in his trousers, which were placed under the patient during the procedure, resulting in the inadvertent recording, court records explain.

When he pressed play on his way home from the Reston operating room the patient was stunned to hear Dr. Tiffany Ingham mocking and disparaging him. The patient also sued a gastroenterologist, Soloman Shah, who was present for the procedure but did not directly participate in most of the commentary by Ingham. That portion of the Fairfax County case was dismissed at the beginning of the trial.

In the News…High Court re-affirms order barring AIT anti-Tinubu documentary

Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, today, re-affirmed an order barring Africa Independent Television (AIT) from further airing a documentary tagged “The Lion of Bourdillon.”

The documentary, which the television station began airing since March 1, 2015, chronicled alleged fraud and public misconduct of a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.

Justice Iyabo Akinkugbe had, on March 16, made an interim order stopping the airing of the documentary pending the determination of the N150bn libel suit filed against Daar Communications Plc, owner of AIT by Tinubu.

The judge, on Wednesday, further made an interlocutory injunction barring the documentary, saying  the applicant could not be adequately compensated if the station was allowed to continue to broadcast the documentary.

In the News…Angolan Journalist charged for defamation

BBC reports that a renowned Angolan journalist has been put on trial on charges of defaming military generals after he accused them of links to the “blood diamond” trade.

Rafael Marques de Morais accused the generals of being linked to murder, torture and land grabs in Angola’s lucrative diamond fields.

He denies the charges, saying the truth is on his side.