NNAMDI KANU SLAMS N20 BILLION LIBEL SUIT AGAINST POLICE SPOKESPERSON, ADEJOBI

According to the suit, Kanu accused the Police image maker of defaming and portraying him as a terrorist leader following media publications of a press statement issued by Adejobi on January 25 where he described IPOB as “a proscribed terrorist organisation”.

The viral publication titled, “Imo: Police neutralise six IPOB/ESN terrorists, recover arms: further read:’Operatives of the Imo Police Command’s tactical unit have neutralised three notorious kingpins of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), an armed wing of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

A copy of the suit sighted further read: “The Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, ACP Olummiwa Adejobi, disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday in Owerri.

“Adejobi said following credible intelligence, the police operatives located and launched a coordinated operation on the terrorists’ hideout in a forest within Ihube in Okigwe Local Government Area of the state on January 24.”

“The Force PRO said five AK-47 rifles, 552 rounds of live ammunition, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), several communication equipment, along eight operational motorcycles used by the group, were recovered from the scene.

“According to him, prior investigations had revealed the involvement of the group in several high-profile crimes, including the attack on the Owerri Correctional Centre on April 5, 2021.

Adejobi further hinted that the neutralised terrorists were involved in the killing of five policemen in Umunna, Okigwe, on December 2022, and the burning of Arondizuogu Police Station on February 8, 2022.”

Meanwhile, Kanu in his suit, averred that “the defamatory statements read by his brother and circle of friends in Abuja and Nigeria at large were false and constitute a grave libel on his person, as the words in their natural and ordinary meaning portrayed” him “as a leader of a violent and terrorist group.”