Mr. Olafemi is claiming N50 million as damages for defamation and disrespect to his name by the commission. His counsel, Temidayo Eseyin, who confirmed this to journalists in Lokoja on Sunday, said the case was instituted on August 18 in a High Court in Lokoja. According to him, the suit is to challenge the inclusion of his client’s name in the list of electoral offenders sent by the commission to the office of the Attorney- General and Minister of Justice for prosecution. He said Mr. Olafemi, who was also a former acting governor of the state, had earlier been cleared of the offence by the Court of Appeal in Abuja. Mr. Eseyin insisted that his inclusion as number four on this list of electoral offenders by the commission, clearly nine years after the said offence was committed was done in bad faith. “The inclusion of his name is unlawful, illegal, a falsehood and a violation of perpetual injunction of the Court of Appeal which directed the commission not to publish such a thing on my client. “The indictment of my client by a tribunal in 2003 had been set aside by the Court of Appeal. The appellate court demanded to know if there was any reported case of fracas and there was none. “Even, the INEC attested to the fact that none of their ballot boxes got missing during the election.’’ “The judges unanimously agreed that there was a miscarriage of justice at the lower tribunal and then nullified the judgement of the tribunal and declared Olafemi winner of the election,” he said. (NAN)]]>