Justice M. O. Idowu of the Lagos State High Court has imposed a N500 million fine on a controversial social media activist and critic, Martin Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan.
The court ordered him to pay damages over defamatory content he posted against a prominent lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and his son, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz.
Justice Idowu delivered the judgment on Tuesday in suit no. ID/8584/GCM/2024.
In his ruling, Justice Dawodu also granted the applicant’s prayers, seeking the following reliefs:
“AN ORDER of interim/pre-emptive remedy by this Honourable Court restraining the Defendant, his agents, privies, and/or anyone from further circulating or publishing any defamatory videos/comments about the Applicant, and to remove the defamatory videos/comments published on 24th September, 2024, from all his online social media handles/pages, pending compliance with the Pre-Action Protocol of this Honourable Court.
“AN ORDER granting leave to the Applicant to serve the Pre-Action Bundles, Originating Processes, and all other court processes between parties herein on the Defendant by substituted means through his lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, Esq., of Deji Adeyanju & Partners at Terrace Block D4, White Diamond Estate, Makuru Street, Off Embu Street, Off Aminu, Wuse II, Abuja.
“SUCH FURTHER ORDER(S) as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of this ex-parte application.”
Persecondnews recalls that VeryDarkMan had in the said libellous content, which the court ordered him to pull down forthwith, associated the Falana family with the convicted controversial crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky.
Bobrisky allegedly served his six-month jail sentence in a private apartment rather than a prison.
During a recorded telephone conversation, Bobrisky allegedly disclosed that he had also enlisted the help of a senior lawyer to obtain an executive pardon for him.
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