A former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, has finally lost his appeal against a N6 billion defamation suit instituted against him by former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili.
In 2016, Odili sued Peterside, who at time claimed that Governor Nyesom Wike’s Supreme court win was influenced by him.
Odili is the husband of a Supreme Court Justice, Mary Odili, who recently retired from service.
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But he had denied the allegation of influencing a Supreme Court judgement.
However, Odili claimed that Peterside continued to peddle the falsehood and repeated it during a press conference.
The Court of Appeal upheld Odili’s claims but the ex-NIMASA DG was unsatisfied by the verdict, and appealed to the Supreme Court.
At the apex court, Peterside’s lawyer, Damian Okoro, asked the justices to dismiss the verdict of the lower court for lacking in merit.
But Kanu Agabi SAN, who stood in for Odili, asked the court to align with the findings of the appellate court and dismiss the appeal.