… Sowore, Sahara Reporters, Aduda listed as co-defendants
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Namibia and Head of Mission in Jamaica, Ambassador Lilian Onoh, has sued the immediate past Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, for defamation in a court in Texas, United States.
Also listed in the suit as defendants are Omoyele Sowore, the Chief Executive Officer of Sahara Reporters and Gabriel Aduda, who is the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but is now in Petroleum Resources, which is headed by President Tinubu.
In the suit, which is listed on the website of justia.com, as case number 3:2023cv022838, which is filed in US District Court of the Northern District of Texas for Libel, Assault, Slander, the filing alleges that the trio, through Sahara Reporters, defamed Ambassador Onoh to discredit her exposure of corruption in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Mr. Onyeama was Minister from 2015 – 2023.
Included in the alleged corrupt acts that Mr. Onyeama and Mr Aduda were allegedly trying to cover up, are the reported embezzlement of $2.8 million of Red Cross funds for Haiti Earthquake victims by the Ambassador’s predecessor in Jamaica, as well as alleged Visa fraud against the USA and other countries by her successor in Jamaica.
Yet another Nigerian Diplomat is alleged to have engaged in VAT Fraud against the Namibian Government.
This alleged show of shame by Nigerian diplomats in the suit in America is said to be another global exposure of the rampant corruption in Nigeria, which Nigerian diplomats are alleged to have exported to their various posts.
The trial will likely expose Nigeria to global odium and further reduce the standing of Nigeria in the comity of nations or to be effective internationally.
Findings revealed that the defamation concerns a report by Sowore’s Sahara Reporters alleging that the Ambassador was indicted and asked to refund N50million Naira and was also sacked for the “misappropriating N50 million” – something the suit contends was totally false.
According to the suit, “Ambassador Onoh was never terminated from any posting with the Nigerian Government for misappropriation and no one on behalf of the Nigerian Government contended that misappropriation of funds was the cause of the termination.”
Going further, it stated that the actions of Onyeama, Aduda, Sowore and Sahara Reporters were “extreme and outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilised community.”
Ambassador Onoh is seeking damages and costs from the defendants.
Recently, a US Court awarded damages of $148 million to two electoral workers who had sued former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for defamation.
If Geoffrey Onyeama, Gabriel Aduda, Omoleye Sowore and Sahara Reporters are found guilty, they could also face a heavy financial penalty for defamation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sowore is reported to be facing criminal charges in Nigeria and is under a travel ban pending trial.
Full details of the court filing can be found on the official website.
