The counsel to the defence in the case instituted against two co-authors of a book by former Rivers State governor, Sir (Dr.) Peter Odili, for allegedly defaming his reputation, has asked the presiding judge in the case to withdraw for being, allegedly, partial.
Barr. Idaye Opi, counsel to the two co-authors, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and Ms Ayisha Osori, the defendants in the case, told newsmen after the court’s sitting on February 27, that he was asking the judge to withdraw from the case because she was allegedly biased in favour of the claimant, Dr. Odili.
He said: “We came to court to ask the judge to withdraw from this case because since this case started she has been behaving as if she’s in favour of the claimant. Last time the matter came up, I was addressing the court before she adjourned. We brought an application stating the reasons and asking her to withdraw from this case and also to let this interlocutory application for which she wants to give a ruling to be transferred to another judge to hear it and give the ruling because it was inconclusive”.
The presiding judge, Justice Augusta Chukwu, postponed her ruling on an application for interlocutory injunction by Odili’s counsel, when the defence counsel argued that proceedings that would have led to the ruling were “inconclusive”.
However, counsel to Dr. Odili, Kanu Agabi (SAN), earlier argued that the defendants’ counsel was only trying to see that the ruling was suspended.
He further said that the defendants’ counsel’s appeal for fair hearing was a “false foundation” aimed at delaying the proceedings in the case. He also said that it was wrong for the defence counsel to suggest that the court had taken sides in the case.
The prosecuting counsel refused to speak with newsmen after the sitting.
Dr Odili was in court at the sitting.
The former Rivers State governor brought a lawsuit against Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and Ms Ayisha Osori for writing in their book that he funded the campaign for the alleged third-term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In the suit, Odili said that he was demanding N1 billion as damages and a public apology from the co-authors of the book for bringing him into public ridicule.
In their book, “Too Good To Die: Third Term And The Myth Of The Indispensable Man In Africa”, Prof. Odinkalu and Ms Osori alleged that the former Rivers State governor, and his Bauchi State counterpart, Adamu Muazu, raised funds to help former President Obasanjo succeed in his alleged third-term bid.
Odili through his counsel, (Barr. Ayodeji Adedipe), made an application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the co-authors of the book from further sale of copies of the book.
The authors alleged that former President Obasanjo spent public funds to realize his third-term ambition.
They said in parts of their book that: “When all the cost elements, including the public relations campaigns, additional incentives, the work of the JCCR (Joint Committee On Constitutional Review of the National Assembly) and constitutional conference as well as inevitable incentives to the security services, are added to the inducements proposed for legislators, it seems almost certain that the budget for the third term (agenda) was in excess of $500million or half a billion dollars. None of this money was lawfully appropriated. They could only have been generated by theft, diversion or misappropriation of public resources”.
The presiding judge, Justice Chukwu, adjourned the case to March 7 for hearing of motion by defendants’ counsel and for ruling on an application for an interlocutory injunction by Odili’s counsel.
