The Kano State High Court on Tuesday ordered Governor Abdullahi Ganduje to pay N800,000 to the Publisher of Daily Nigerian, Ja’afar Ja’afar.
The amount was to cover the cost for expenses incurred by the publisher in a court case the governor instituted over the publication of a report by the online newspaper that showed videos of the Governor receiving foreign currency from a contractor. The money was suspected to be kickback.
Mr Ganduje had sued Mr Ja’afar and Daily Nigerian newspaper for releasing the video clips. The Governor through his counsel demanded Mr Jaafar pay him N3 billion for defamation of character.
He, however, filed an application through his counsel, Offiong Offiong, on June 28 seeking to discontinue the court case.
When the matter was called on Tuesday, the counsel to Mr Ja’afar, U. U. Eteng, and M. B. Azumi, counsel to Penlight Media Limited, publishers of Daily Nigerian, did not object to the application to discontinue the case but demanded N400 million as part of terms to discontinue the suit.
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While Mr Azumi asked for N300 million damages for wasting their time and putting the reputation of his client in jeopardy, Mr Eteng demanded N100 million.
They also demanded an apology to be published in national dailies and a pre-action letter.
The judge, Suleiman Na-mallam, in his ruling granted N400,000 each to Mr Ja’afar and his company, Penlight Media Limited, publishers of Daily Nigerian newspaper.
He, however, was silent on the prayer by defendants to make a public apology in national dailies.
