…Slams N20M Fine on Newspaper that Defamed Him
The story of how a man accused of being a candidate of the Catholic Bishop of Awka, and of mismanagement and malfeasance in his running of COOUTH by detractors, was vindicated by the court. Jude Atupulazi reports.Â
After serving as Anambra State Commissioner for Health for two consecutive times from 2014-2019, Dr Joe Akabuike, a renowned Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, returned to help the Medical School of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, COOUTH, by taking up appointment as a lecturer, while also serving as a Consultant to the Teaching Hospital.
Yet, a publication in a national daily which Akabuike described as sponsored by detractors, described him as hanging around in Awka at that time, another way of saying he was jobless. This was contained in a libelous report on Akabuike’s running of the institution.
One of the persons the paper claimed to have interviewed was quoted as saying, ‘It was after the death of Basil Nwankwo that Akabuike, who was removed as Commissioner and was literally hanging around in Awka, was appointed into office as CMD. His appointment was again made by Obiano without the board advertising the position and interviewing candidates. He is said to be a candidate of a Catholic Bishop. All these CMDs see themselves as having been appointed by the Governor, so they could play all sorts of pranks.’
But as though to prove that statement wrong, it was during this period that the Anambra State Government under former Governor Willie Obiano found Akabuike worthy and best placed to head the institution as the Chief Medical Director, having also met all the criteria.
Akabuike, a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons, who had been before then in administration for over ten years, set about his mission of carrying out his mandate and of taking the hospital to greater heights. But as he went about this, his detractors struck. They accused him of financial malfeasance and causing the scarcity of drugs, as well as creating a drain pipe for siphoning of millions of Naira through over bloated salaries, hiked allowances and inflated imprest bills.
Through the publication in a national daily, they alleged that salaries and wages rose sharply from 2021 without any commensurate expenditure, citing an instance when, according to them, an official voucher showed that in March and October 2021, salary increased from N81m to N88m; while the following December staff wages of same year also raised suspicion. The paper claimed that it interviewed many staff members of the hospital whose names were not given, quoting them copiously as they made many allegations against Akabuike’s Administration.
He was also accused of allocating N5m monthly security vote for his office instead of the N1.5m approved by the State Government. This was even as they also accused him of contracting the services of a food contractor whom he enriched alongside some ”selfish persons in the hospital’s management”, thus inflating the cost of meals in the hospital.
His problems were not over. The publication accused him of executive rascality in his administration’s handling of the CONMESS issue with the COOUTH Chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), which threatened a showdown with his administration.
In effect, his administration was severally accused of such other things as running an empty pharmacy, forcing patients to eat expensive meals, etc., while they were trying to prevail on the current Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to act.
But according to Akabuike, despite all those allegations, the newspaper did not deem it fit to hear his side of the story as the best traditions of journalism demanded. The whole matter left the CMD devastated as he could not fathom why any journalistic report of that nature could be so one sided. This situation compelled him to go to court to clear his name.
‘If something forced somebody like me to go to court, it has to be something very serious. I felt so bad because I knew there was no iota of truth in all their claims and that was why I went to court and you see today, the truth has emerged,’ a visibly happy Akabuike intoned.
Indeed, on the 10th of June this year, an Awka High Court presided over by the Hon Justice Ike Ogu, declared Akabuike innocent of all the allegations which the defendants failed to prove any in court. He did not stop there; he ordered the defendants to pay Akabuike the sum of N20m for general damages. This was even as he ordered a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, officers, privies and successors-in-title, from further publishing or circulating the said libelous newspaper, whether in print or online, or any copy thereof, for whatever reason and in whatever manner.
The defendants were also directed to render a written apology to Akabuike in their paper on three occasions and in all their websites.
They were finally further instructed to pay costs to the plaintiff (Akabuike) which the court assessed to be fixed at N300, 000.
In its judgement, the court had averred that there was no doubt that the libel against Akabuike imputed the commission of crimes, dishonesty and deep moral depravity, while contending that the defendants had not shown any remorse for their false publication.
Reacting to the judgement, the CMD of COOUTH, Akabuike, thanked God for letting the truth come out eventually. He said, ‘I’m vindicated and I thank God. But also, this has to serve as a lesson for people who think they can just publish anything against anyone, especially when they know it is not the truth.’
While expressing wonderment that the reporter made no attempt to approach him or any of the other staff members he wrote against, Akabuike recalled that when the court was examining the journalist that wrote the story, he had claimed not knowing what investigative journalism was.
‘I know that a journalist should endeavour to make investigations on anything to obtain the truth. I know those who published this were bought. It’s very terrible for people to be using money to castigate or destroy others’ character,’ Akabuike concluded.
