In a statement of claim filed at ‎an Ikeja High Court in Lagos, the chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers, Sam Omatseye, has sued The Sun Publishing Limited for libel.

 

Omatseye, who is also a columnist with The Nation, accused The Sun Publishing Limited, the publishers of the Daily Sun and New Telegraph, of printing an article intended to undermine and malign the goodwill he enjoys.

 

According to reports, the Daily Sun had run an article 'Call Omatseye to Order, Kalu tells Tinubu….Says The Nation embarrassment to journalism' on October 13th detailing Orji Kalu’s against Omatseye over the latter’s used of foul language in his weekly column.

 

The New Telegraph published the same article on the same day.

 

The owner of The Sun Publishing Limited, Orji Kalu, was reacting to Omatseye’s criticism of his paper for an earlier report claiming that the federal government had put Bola Tinubu who owns Vintage Press Limited, publisher of The Nation Newspapers, under security watch.

 

"We wonder how a supposedly seasoned writer and editorial board chair could not distinguish between propaganda and purely professional reportage in his pecuniary bohemianism.

 

This is indeed unprofessionalism demonstrated by rascally Omatseye. It is utterly embarrassing and provocative that Omatseye could allow himself to be led by the nose by the government specious rebuttal of The Sun story.

 

The fact that government debunked the story does not make it fictitious. Is vicious Omatseye saying that no government has denied stories published by his medium?

 

We sympathize with brazen Omatseye on grounds of his not being a trained journalist or even a news reporter so as to understand the distinction between n‎ews reporting and poetry, which incapacitates his knowledge of the rudiments of the calling which all Mass Communication sophomores know.

 

It is also unfortunate that since Omatseye returned from America and was rehabilitated by a few past and present governors, he has turned himself to a rabid defence dog for his new benefactors," Kalu was quoted as saying in the article.

 

‎Mr. Omatseye said that the words used to qualify him in the article were understood to mean charlatan, impostor and fake personality as well as a dubious person whose stock in trade is sycophancy and dishonesty.

 

"The claimant (Mr. Omatseye) avers that the libelous publication by the defendant was widely circulated and read by millions of people in the world and particularly in Nigeria where the claimant has several associates, friends, family and professional colleagues.

 

The defamatory words were published in a sensational manner and the defendant knows or ought to have known that the allegations were untrue and totally unfounded," Omatseye stated in the court document.

 

Omatseye sought a declaration from the court that the publication by the two newspapers is libelous and an order for N1 billion as damages.

 

He also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining The Sun Publishing Limited from publishing libelous or injurious wor‎ds against him.

 

Source: Premium Times