An Ikeja High Court has fixed January 23, 2025, for the hearing of the defamation suit filed against Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), by Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin, also known as Falz.
Mr. Muiz Banire (SAN), counsel for Falana and Falz, notified the court on Thursday that the claimants have filed and served the originating processes on the defendants.
Banire also said a motion on notice was served on October 25, but Justice Matthias Dawodu said the originating process was not before the court.
The claimant’s counsel requested a court adjournment to allow time for filing necessary administrative processes.
He said: “In this circumstance, my lord, the best thing to do is to adjourn the matter so that we can go back to the registry to file all the administrative processes.”
In his response, counsel to VeryDarkMan, Mr. Marvin Omorogbe, said it had been observed that there was no valid writ of summons before the court.
He, therefore, urged the court to strike out the case.
Omorogbe said he did not know how the Registry of the court would prepare any administrative process.
The counsel argued that the existing writ was invalid since it hadn’t been presented before the court.
According to him, the writ bears the same suit number as the preemptive remedy proceedings.
He said:“Preemptive remedy proceedings end after an injunction is granted or refused.
“They have gone ahead to file a writ, using the same suit number as the preemptive remedy proceedings.
“And the court said no, that a fresh writ of summons with a new suit number needs to be filed.
“At this point, my lord, we will be seeking a date to hear our preliminary objection.”
Omorogbe requested the court to withdraw the October 18 motion, citing the claimants’ acknowledgment of issues with the preemptive proceedings.
He argued the motion had become moot.
Justice Dawodu, however, struck out the motion, following no objections from the claimants counsel.
Dawodu said: “I will give you a date for hearing because we are talking about a writ that is not before the court.”
The judge thereafter adjourned the case until Jan. 23, 2025, for hearing of the preliminary objections.
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