A High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, has struck out a libel suit filed by 18 staff of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) against Eastern Reckoner newspaper.
The staff had sued the newspaper and its directors, Comrade Ogbonnaya Iheaka and Mr Innocent Kalu, over an alleged defamatory publication in 2017.
However, Justice Ogechi Okeahialam ruled that the suit was incompetent due to a procedural error.
The court held that the suit did not follow the required procedure, as the counsel’s signature, name, and address were not included.
According to the Supreme Court, any suit without the signature, name, and address of the counsels is invalid and incompetent.
Consequently, the court struck out the suit.
The staff had alleged that the newspaper’s publication, “MOUAU set to demote 28 professors”, was defamatory.
However, the newspaper and its directors argued that the publication was truthful, as it was based on information from the university.
The university had later reverted the affected staff to their former positions due to non-compliance with promotion rules.
Reacting to the judgment, Mr Innocent Kalu stated that the staff should not have gone to court, as the publication was true.
He emphasized that the newspaper was simply carrying out its constitutional responsibility of disseminating information.