BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

BENIN — AN Edo State High Court has awarded the sum of N25 milliom to the state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, over a libelous publication by Dockland Communications Limited, publishers of News of the People Magazine.

Justice Efe Ikponmwonba, in his judgment,  said that Dockland Communications  had failed to prove the veracity of the libelous publication of the magazine in 2011, which was carried on the front page and at page 19, with the headline, “Oshiomhole’s sex power exposed: Impregnates young girl six months after death of wife.”

The governor had sued the magazine  after it failed to retract the said story and apologise to him as contained in a letter to them by his lawyer, Ken Mozia.

Oshiomhole, who demanded for N250 million in damages, argued that the defendant, among other things, falsely wrote that he bought a jeep for the said girl, whom he was alleged to have impregnated and that he was interfering in the academic activities of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, on behalf of the girl and that he used sexual performance enhancement drugs, in addition to performing traditional marriage rites prelude to a marriage between him and the said girl.

During trial, the governor, under cross-examination, said: “I am a public officer, and as you have rightly pointed out, as a governor, what I do or fail to do is important. My character is important and people’s opinion of my personal life is important. My children are still in agony. The magazine published this just a few months after my wife passed away and this publication coincided with my daughter’s wedding. A governor whom I invited for the wedding asked me if I was the one going to wed or my daughter. Your image as a public officer is very important.

“After this publication, I had very serious family crisis because my children were still in grief over the death of their mother,” he told the court.