Court Finds Obasanjo Guilty of Contempt for Publishing Autobiography - dhabworld

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

• Orders confiscation of book, media houses to be served
• Former president to appeal

By Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

An Abuja High Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, Wednesday held that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in contempt of court for flouting its orders restraining him, from among others, publishing his autobiography, My Watch.

Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling, gave Obasanjo 21 days, from the day of service of the court’s orders on him, to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt for going ahead to publish the book in spite of the ex-parte interim order made by the court on December 5, and a pending libel suit before the court involving him (Obasanjo).

The judge restrained the former president from further publishing, printing or offering for sale, the book, My Watch, whose content touched on the subject matter before the court.

Justice Ashi also ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG), the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Comptroller of Customs to recover the published book from all book stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and airports and deposit them with his court’s registrar pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Justice Ashi had on December 5 granted ex-parte interim order, restraining Obasanjo from proceedings with plans to publish the book or having it published for him, and fixed December 10 as the return date.

Despite the court’s order, Obasanjo reportedly held a public presentation of the book on Tuesday in Lagos, arguing that the book had been published before the court was misled into making the order.
Yesterday, the judge took arguments from lawyer to the plaintiff/applicant, Alex Iziyon (SAN) and defendant/respondent's lawyer Rilwan Okpanachi on the plaintiff’s motion for interlocutory injunction, the defendant’s counter-affidavit and motion for an order to vacate the earlier granted interim order.

Ruling, Justice Ashi held that it was wrong for Obasanjo to have proceeded to publish the book despite the fact that a libel suit, whose subject matter formed part of the content of the book, was still pending before the court and that the order he made on December 5 was still pending.

He further held that it was immaterial that the book was published before the interim order was made. He said Obasanjo ought not to have published the book because he was aware of the part-heard libel suit relating to the letter he wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buruji Kashamu of being a fugitive wanted in the United States.

He held thus: “The fact that the book was published in November is irrelevant. As long as the substantive suit is not yet determined, no party is entitled to publish or comment on material facts that are yet to be decided on by the court.

“I hold the defendant, not only in contempt of the court, but to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt and ordered to undo what he has wrongly done.

“The defendant, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, shall be given 21 days, from the day this order is served on him, to show cause, via affidavit, why he should not be punished for contempt committed by publishing and distributing for sale to the public, the book, My Watch, in plain disregard of the pendency of a substantive suit and the order of this court made on December 5, 2014 restraining him from doing so.

“The defendants, whether by himself, agents, servants, privies or whatever name called, is hereby restrained from further publication or offering for sale or distribution, in any way or manner, the book called My Watch or the like of the visual or written materials, which contains a re-publication or statement extracted from the letter referred to by the plaintiff.”

Justice Ashi also ordered the IG, the Director General of DSS and the Comptroller of Customs to recover the published book from all book stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and airports and deposit them with his court’s registrar pending the determination of the substantive suit.

He ordered that the enrolled orders of the court be served on all media houses in the country and be equally served on the defendant by publication in two national dailies.

The judge rejected the argument by the defendant that the interim orders were wrongly made, as the plaintiff failed to produce the book to show that it actually contained the alleged libelous materials.
Justice Ashi held that since the plaintiff said he came to court on the fear that Obasanjo was to publish a book that touched on the issue already before the court, it was the duty of the defendant, in whose custody the material was, to show the court that the plaintiff’s fear was misplaced.

“What I find difficult to understand is why the defendants went through the pains to depose to the ISBN number and other details about the book, which they said was published since November before the interim order was obtained on December 5, without supplying the court with copies of the book.

“This would have served to disprove the claim by the applicant/plaintiff that the book contains a reproduction of the letter, which formed the subject of the libel case before the court.
“The fact that the book was published in November, while the substantive case was still pending is contemptuous enough,” the judge added.

He said the failure on Obasanjo’s part to supply the court with the book to convince the court that nothing relating to the subject of the pending libel case was contained in it suggested that he was hiding something.

T

he judge has elected to hear the substantive suit expeditiously and adjourned to January 13 next year.

Kashamu had on February 6 this year sued Obasnajo, accusing him of
defaming him (Kashamu) in the former president’s December 2, 2013 letter to Jonathan titled, “Before It is Too Late”.

Hearing in the case has reached an advance stage but was adjourned for Obasanjo to open his defence. Before he could open his defence, Kashamu went before the court on December 5 complaining that Obasanjo planned to publish a book with the December 2, 2013 letter forming part of the content.

He sought an interim restraining order against Obasanjo, which the court granted and fixed December 10 for the hearing of another motion by Kashamu for interlocutory orders.

Rather than come before the court to convince it to lift the interim order, Obsanjo publicly presented the book on December 9 in Lagos.
Reacting to the ruling, Obasanjo’s lawyer, Okpanachi said his client will appeal it. He said the order, which his client allegedly flouted were made in error because the plaintiff failed to show, through material facts, that the letter formed the content of the book.

“The order made cannot be enforced. They want the court to stop an act that had been concluded. That is impossible. We had published the book in November, they came before the court in December and asked that the publishing should be stopped. Is that possible?

“We shall file our appeal within the stipulated time of 14 days in the case of interlocutory orders,” Okpanachi said.