Court admits exhibits in Premiere Academy’s N500m ‘defamation’ suit against activist

A high court of the federal capital territory (FCT) in Kwali has accepted eight exhibits submitted by Premiere Academy Abuja in a suit filed against Lemmy Ughegbe, a gender activist.

Premiere Academy is seeking N500 million in damages against Ughegbe, claiming that the activist’s defamatory statements have harmed its reputation.

The lawsuit, filed by the school’s lawyer Adegboyega Awomolo, is praying the court to prohibit Ughegbe from making further defamatory remarks regarding the alleged rape of a female student, the late Keren-Happuch Akpegher.

Keren was a boarding student at Premiere Academy in Abuja when she died in June 2021. She was 14.

The controversy over her death was ignited by claims that she was sexually assaulted and died of septic shock from a “decayed condom and dead sperm” found in her vagina when a doctor at Queens Clinic in Abuja tried to pass a catheter in her.

The Academy alleged that Ughegbe had stirred the controversy.

During proceedings on Thursday, the school, through its legal team, presented eight materials to support its case, including a flash drive containing a video clip of Ughegbe addressing approximately 5,000 lawyers at the 2021 law week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, where the alleged defamatory comments were made.

The Academy also submitted three years-long admission registers, showing a decline in students’ enrollment attributed to Ughegbe’s persistent allegations.

In 2022, the registers indicated that only 59 new applicants sat for the admission examination, reflecting a downward trend over the past three years.

Other exhibits included online news articles. The court also reviewed a letter from Awomolo’s law firm warning Ughegbe against further defamatory actions, along with his response, submitted through his lawyer, Johnbull Adaghe.

In opposition to the admission of the documents, Ughegbe’s counsel raised several objections, arguing that some were not properly front-loaded and were absent from the witness statement served on them.

However, Kayode Agunloye, the presiding judge, upheld the submission of the claimant and admitted the exhibits into evidence.

The court has scheduled a session for March 18 to publicly present the video clip featuring Ughegbe’s allegedly defamatory remarks.

The case has been adjourned for the cross-examination of witnesses by Ughegbe’s legal counsel.

Ughegbe leads the Coalition of Gender-Based Violence Responders (CGBVR).