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| Senator Musiliu Obanikoro |
A Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Friday refused an application by a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, seeking to stop further publication and circulation of an audio recording allegedly linking him with the alleged plot to rig the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti.
Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, in a ruling on Friday, said Obanikoro failed to place enough material facts before the court to warrant granting such an application.
Joined as respondents in the application were online news medium, Sahara Reporters, its publisher, Omoyele Sowore, The PUNCH Newspaper and Premium Times.
Obanikoro had filed the application, claiming that the defendants had through the publication caused him various political and personal losses.
He had sought an interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing the audio recording which he described as an“harmful material”pending the determination of his main suit.
Justice Ipaye, however, dismissed the application for lacking in merit.
The judge held,“There is nothing before the court that shows the applicant will suffer more harm if the injunction is not granted.
“It is an error to seek to restrain a publisher of an article on the grounds of libel if there is no proof before the court that such material is libelous.
“I am persuaded that this application has no merit and an injunction is not appropriate in the circumstance.”
The judge adjourned further hearing in the case while she ordered the defendants to put in their responses.
In the main suit, Obanikoro is seeking, among other things, an order of the court compelling the defendants to retract all the damaging news publications via a letter of apology on their various platforms.
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