Customs boss sues publisher, Silverbird for defamation

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, has sued the publisher of Shipping World magazine, Elder Asu Beks, over allegations of defamation.
Asu Beks was summoned to appear before the High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Thursday, to defend himself on allegations of defamation in a N1 billion suit filed by Dikko.
Counsel to Dikko, Amobi Nzelu, alleged: “Asu Beks had, on a breakfast show, Today on STV, broadcast on August 22, 2012, accused Dikko of financing the dreaded Boko Haram sect.”
But Elder Asu Beks in a swift reaction denied the allegations in another edition of the programme aired on February 15, 2013.
Asu said his trouble started with Dikko after a communiqué published as an advertorial on page 9 of the January 15, 2012 edition of The Sun newspaper, where the Ijaw Nation Forum, to which he belongs, “outrightly condemned the dreaded Boko Haram sect and called on the group to desist from further attacks on Southerners living in the northern part of Nigeria. This must have angered the Customs boss who reacted angrily towards me when the I paid him a visit on January 25, 2012 at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.”
Asu Beks, said he was surprised when Dikko, who had always welcomed him to his office, said: “You, Asu Beks? I thought you were my friend. I never knew you are anti-North. How can you come out so openly to condemn Boko Haram on the pages of a newspaper?
“Well, the Sultan of Sokoto has seen this too and has directed that I should not have anything to do with you….”
Asu Beks is not the only one facing charges of defamation as Silverbird Communications Limited, operators of Silverbird Television, are joined as defendant in addition to the N1 billion damages.
Dikko is seeking for:
1. A declaration that the statements/words authored and spoken by the 1st defendant (Asu Beks) concerning the Plaintiff (Dikko) financing and funding Boko Haram sect and aired by the 2nd defendant (Silverbird Communications Ltd.) on the 22nd of August, 2012 are false, malicious and without foundation.
2. A declaration that the plaintiff is neither financing nor funding Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
3. A declaration that the airing of the programme wherein the 1st defendant authored and spoke about the plaintiff by the 2nd defendant is mischievous, and a calculated attempt to tarnish the hard earned image and reputation of the plaintiff.
4. An apology to be aired by the 2nd defendant during their prime time for one week retracting the content of the said programme.
5. An apology by the 1st defendant to the plaintiff to be published in the front page of seven national dailies to wit: Punch, Sun, Thisday, Leadership, Daily Trust, Tribune and Guardian Newspapers retracting the said libellous and defamatory programme wherein he spoke concerning the plaintiff.
6. A perpetual injunction restraining the 1st defendant whether by himself, assigns, agents, privies or whosoever purporting to act on his behalf from authoring, speaking or further authoring or speaking words in any programme or interview that is defamatory, libellous and malicious against the person of the plaintiff.