The Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has instituted a libel suit against the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, and the Independent Newspapers Limited, publishers of Daily Independent Newspapers.

Court processes by his lawyers say the statement and publication by the defendants were “calculated to lower the Claimant (Mbah) in the estimation of right thinking members of the society; isolate the Claimant from the society; expose the Claimant to hatred, odium, contempt, and ridicule; cause other persons to shun or avoid the Claimant; and discredit the Claimant in the matter of his business and political engagements” Mbah’s lawyers stated.

Mbah is therefore demanding the sum of N1 billion as general damages for the said libelous publication.

In the lawsuit marked E/25/2023 filed before the Enugu State High Court, the entrepreneur accused Chief Agballah and the Independent Newspapers of false and malicious publication about his person in the 30th May 2022 online edition of the newspaper.

In a Statement of Claim filed by his lawyers, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN & Co, Mbah said Agballah accused him of joining the governorship race in order to use Enugu’s funds to pay up an alleged N40 billion business debt.

He equally accused Agballah of labelling him a member of a criminal gang, which allegedly engaged in malicious damage to property, assault, and other criminal activities against the people of Enugu State.

Mbah said he was severally embarrassed by countless calls and messages from concerned family members, business and political associates, loved ones, friends and in-laws, while several Nigerians, who thought the claims to be true, condemned him in the media and social media platforms.

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Mbah added that although he had caused his solicitors to write the defendants vide a correspondence dated 22nd July, 2022 in which he demanded a retraction of the publication and an apology as well as compensation for damaging his reputation, they chose to ignore it.

“The Defendants have not brought the publication down and accordingly will continue to defame and maliciously damage the Claimant’s reputation, unless restrained by the Court.

The Founder and CEO of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited is therefore seeking the sum of N1 billion as general damages, an order mandating the defendants to publish an apology to him in at least three national dailies in Nigeria, and a clear retraction of the defamatory publication made against the him.

Mbah is equally demanding N10 million as cost of the suit.