The Oyo State High Court in Ibadan, presided over by Justice Olusola Adetujoye, has adjourned the hearing in the N200 billion libel suit filed by the Awujale and supreme ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, against Yinka Aiyefele Limited, the proprietor of Fresh FM 105.9 Radio Station, on Tuesday until sine die. Oba Adetona has filed an 11-paragraph statement of claim asking for N200 billion in damages for claimed libel in the radio program “Talk Your Own with Chikito Duru,” which was produced and broadcast by the defendant on Fresh FM 105.9 Ibadan on December 22, 2019. From December 22, 2019 to September 4, 2020, it was rumored to have been simultaneously transmitted online and preserved on its news server. A court order of injunction prohibiting the defendant from posting or causing to be published any more similar or identical defamatory statements about or about the claimant or the expense of the lawsuit is also sought by the traditional ruler. The only defendant in the lawsuit with the case number I/972/2020 was named as Yinka Ayefele Limited by the plaintiff, Awujale, through his attorney, O. Ayanlaja, SAN of M/S Ayanlaja, Adesanya & Co. According to Ayanlaja, the words used on the radio program referred to and were understood to refer to the claimant in their natural and ordinary meaning and were intended to disparage the claimant in both his position as a person of international renown and as the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland. Ayanlaja claimed that the claimant had also suffered harm to his reputation, character, and credit as well as a decrease in the respect of right-thinking society members and emotional hurt. Since it was allegedly supposed to have happened in 1984, The Awujale insisted that Yinka Ayefele Limited was aware that the alleged comments were false and defamatory. He stated that Yinka Ayefele Limited was negligent in its failure to verify the accuracy of the publication and that it was instead blinded by the idea of the potential financial benefit of employing the person and office of the Awujale to increase listenership to its programs. “The claimant’s reputation and integrity have been damaged by the false publication, as people who held the ...
