Alleged Defamation: Ex-Director Sues Runsewe, Seeks N50m Damages 

The Director General of National Council for Arts and Culture(NCAC), Olusegun Runsewe, has been sued for defamation at an Abuja High Court, by a former Director, Extension Services (External Relations) of NCAC, Hilary Ogbechie.

Ogbechie through his lawyer, Valentine Offia, is praying the court to compel Runsewe to pay him 50,000,000 naira for allegedly damaging his reputation through false statement, as well as 2,000,000 naira as costs for the suit.

In the statement of claim, Ogbechie stated that Runsewe had on January 5, 2020, purportedly claimed that he(Ogbechie) was the Director General of the council that was indicted for financial irregularities in contract awards and payments, by a 2017 audit report recently released by the Office of the Auditor–General of the Federation.

Ogbechie claimed that he had never been the DG of the NCAC and that he had even retired from public service since March 2016, adding that the statement credited to Runsewe and published by Sahara reporters was false and malicious and had put him in bad light.

“The false statement made by the Defendant impressed on the minds of members of Nigerian and international communities that the Claimant was involved in financial scams, defrauded the public treasury and has been indicted by an audit report of the Auditor – General of the Federation of Nigeria.”

He also said that Runsewe had refused to retract the alleged offensive interview despite written requests to do so.