A Lagos High Court in Ikeja on Tuesday struck out the defamation suit filed against popular social media personality Martins Otse, also known as Verydarkman (VDM).
The suit was filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, and his son, Folarin Falana (also known as Falz), following the comments and video he published on September 24, 2024 on his social media handles and pages.
The Falanas had dragged the defendant before the court in separate suits, claiming N500 million each as damages over a video he posted on his social media platforms alleging that they collected N10 million from Idris Okuneye, a.k.a Bobrisky, to pervert the cause of justice.
In their suits, the father and son submitted that the defendant knew all his comments were unverified and not true, yet he proceeded to publish same to injure their reputation recklessly.
They also stated that the alleged defamatory publication is still trending on the defendants online handles and pages and as such, the injury to their reputation continues as long as the publication remains online.
However, when the matter came up in court on Tuesday, Falana, his son, and VDM were absent in court.
The counsel for the respondent, Niyi Alagbe, holding brief for Marvin Omorogbe, informed the court that he had earlier filed an application for stay of proceeding before Justice Fimisola Azeez.
Counsel for the Falanas, Omotayo Olatunbosun, in his response, informed the court that he received the said application on Monday about 4:15 p.m.
Olatunbosun argued that the matter of the day was the preliminary objection, which he said was ripe for hearing and that the new application was meant to prolong matters.
He urged the judge to proceed with the business of the day.
Justice Matthias Dawodu stated that the application in question was not in the file and wondered why he was being troubled with the case when the substantive suit was before another court.
Dawodu ruled to strike out the suit and held that insistence on going ahead with the suit would be an academic exercise since the substantive suit was before another judge.
“Consequently, this suit is hereby struck out,” he said.
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