President loses to AIT as court strikes out defamation suit

The Federal High Court on Wednesday in Abuja struck out defamation suit filed by President Muhammadu Buhari against DAAR Communications, operators of the African Independent Television (AIT).

Justice John Tsoho held that the court was compelled to strike out the suit because it appeared abandoned.

According to him, no representations from the parties have been entered since the matter was assigned to the court.

“This is against the rules of court, all opportunities given for the plaintiff and the respondents to put life in the suit have failed. The suit is hereby struck out,’’ Tsoho said.

Buhari had filed the suit in 2015 challenging the alleged documentary transmitted by the station aimed at defaming his character in the eyes of the public.

The President averred that the video documentary aired by the television station was aimed at giving him away as a dictator and religious bigot.

He  also averred that the documentary was also shown on the state-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that before the action, the APC national leadership had written to the two stations describing the video as fabricated and defamatory.

Subsequently, the presidential candidate of the APC, as he was then, was approached the court with the suit.

The DARR Communication is owned by a chieftain of the PDP, Chief Raymond Dokpesi.