The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court Abuja, has granted an application by Lilian Onoh, a former Nigerian ambassador to testify via Zoom in a libel suit filed by Geoffrey Onyeama.
Ms Onoh who was Nigeria’s ambassador to Namibia and head of mission in Jamaica will testify from her Ameriacn residence in the libel suit
Mr Onyeama, Nigeria’s immediate-past Minister of Affairs, filed the libel case against Ms Onoh who was a career ambassador.
He alleged that Ms Onoh in a series of media engagements portrayed him as being corrupt while he served as foreign minister in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
The pair are locked in a fierce legal contestation both in Nigeria and the U.S, where they accused each of defamation.
At the Nigerian court in Abuja on Thursday, the judge, Kesia Ogbonnaya, said Ms Onoh could testify from her base in the U.S.
In addition, the judge ordered the defendant to file her statement of defence alongside her witness statement on oath before the next hearing of the suit.
The order followed a request by Ms Onoh’s lawyer, Monday Ejeh, praying the court for time to file the necessary court documents in defence of his client’s case.
Mr Onyeama’s lawyer, Agada Elachi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), did not object to the filing of the papers out of time.
Thereafter, Ms Ogbonnaya adjourned the suit until 24 January “for final and definite hearing” of Ms Onoh’s defence in the matter.
In a warning to the defendant’s lawyer, Monday Ejeh, the judge said “if the 1st defendant (Ms Onoh) is not ready to do the matter, this court will do the needful.”
Ms Onoh had accused the judge of bias in her adjudicating on the suit, calling for Ms Ogbonnaya’s recusal from the case. However, the judge insists on hearing and determining the matter.
Also, she accused the claimant, Mr Onyeama of colluding with court officials to keep court filings away from her, a development that led to the hearing of the case without her knowledge.
