Sahara Reporters asks court to vacate judgement awarding N4bn to Saraki

Sahara Reporters, online news website, has asked a Kwara state high court to set aside the judgment which awarded N4 billion to Bukola Saraki, president of the senate, in a libel suit. Saraki had accused Sahara Reporters of defamation. In July, Sikiru Adeyinka Oyinloye, the judge who heard the case, had also ordered the ordered the freezing of two accounts domiciled in UBA and GTB linked to Owoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters. But Sowore accused Saraki of “fraudulently procuring” the order which froze his accounts. He also alleged that the senate president conspired with his associates to send court summons to wrong addresses in order to prevent him from defending himself. In a motion on notice, Sahara Reporters and its publisher, the online publication is asking the court to grant an order setting aside the entire proceedings in the suit. It said the court lacked the jurisdiction to have entertained the suit. The motion filed on behalf of Sahara Reporters and its publisher by Falana & Falana Chambers argued that the website could not be sued because it was not a legal entity. They faulted Saraki’s motion on notice for final judgment which they said had different signatures. While an affidavit in support of the motion was deposed by one A.D. Ahmed, a lawyer with Tunde Olomu & Co, the law firm on record for the senate president is Paul Erokoro & Co, lawyers of Sahara Reporters and its publisher argued. They said that they only recognised a lawyer from Tunde Olomu & Co. who argued Saraki’s motion on notice in court as there was nowhere in the court proceedings where the senate president changed his lawyers. Lawyers to Sahara Reporters said they were unable to get copies of the judgment from the court after applying for it. They explained that the delay in challenging the judgment of the court was because the defendants only became aware of it after it was reported in the media.]]>