Union Bank of Nigeria Plc led by Funke Osibodu has dragged Business Hallmark (BH) and its editorial chiefs to Court for publishing stories on the Bank 

Already, BH lawyer, Barrister Ayo Olarewanju has assembled a team of lawyers to defend BH. 

In a Suit No. LD/1760/2011 filed before Honourable Justice D.T. Okowobi in the High Court of Lagos State, the claimants went behind the defendants and obtained an ex-parte injunction restraining BH from further publishing “…such other statements of and concerning the claimants….” 

But when the case came up before Honourable Justice Okowobi on Monday, October 17, 2011, none of the claimants was present. Counsel for the defendants, Olarewanju with a team of lawyer, protested that none of the defendants has been served with all the court processes even though the claimants have gone behind them to get an ex-parte injunction. The counsel to the claimants had admitted that the process have not accordingly been served on the 2nd and 3rd defendants and therefore asked for adjournment, and the case was adjourned to Thursday, 3rd of November, 2011. 

In  a supporting affidavit deposed to by Phillip Ikeazor, one of the executive directors of the bank, he  claimed that based on the sustained publication of stories on the state of the bank, that the bank has suffered some injuries which affected its business and therefore sought “an Order of Interlocutory Injunction directing all parties including the Defendants jointly and severally, their directors, agents, servants, subsidiaries, sister companies or otherwise any other person natural or artificial howsoever called under the control of defendants as the case maybe, to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the substantive suit”. 

Also, the claimants are appealing to the honourable Court to order the defendants to pay N14.5 billion (fourteen billion five hundred million naira) “being damages suffered by the Claimants”. 

The Claimants in the affidavit deposed that the lead story of BH of Vol. 3. Issue no. 19 of 30th May – 5th June, 2011, with the caption, ‘The Rape of Union Bank‘, “alleged that the Central Bank of Nigeria appointed management team of the Bank headed by Funke Osibodu is ripping-off the claimant, causing uncontrollable financial bleeding and depleting its revenue and capital base to pave way for its nationalization and attendant sale to investors of their choice…”. 

The bank claimed that the publication of the caricature of its CEO riding “on the stallion” was allegedly an attempt by the defendants to undermine the banks management.
 

Source: Business Hallmark