Court fixes February for bench ruling on Magu’s N5bn libel suit

Justice Doris Okuwobi of the Lagos State High Court has fixed February 28, 2019 for bench ruling on the N5bn libel suit brought against Sun Publishing Limited and three others by the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Mustapha Magu.

Magu, through his counsel, Wahab Shittu, in case file ID/1250m/454/2017, was seeking the compensation for libelous imputations and statements made against him in a story published on the March 25, 2017 edition of the Saturday Sun.

He said that the writers of the report maliciously alleged that Magu owned “two mansions on different streets in highbrow Maitama area of Abuja.

Testifying on Thursday, Magu argued that the alleged newspaper publication claiming that he was under discreet investigation by the Department of State Security Services, DSS was false.

According to Magu, “since I came to EFCC, nobody has investigated me. I am not under any probe.

Equally throwing into the air the insinuation that he owned the said property in the alleged publication dated 25th March, 2017, Magu maintained that, “I will not go and buy properties in Maitama.

While being cross examined by counsel to The Sun, Magu gave an affirmative answer that the disputed property were traced to his wife.

He told Justice Doris Okuwobi that the publication alleging that two houses were traced to his wife by the Department of State Service (DSS) was false, stressing that he has only one house in the Karo area of Abuja.

While responding to questions today from his counsel, Wahab Shittu, on the allegations of a story published in March entitled, ‘Magu Under Fresh Probe’, Magu said nobody has investigated him since he came to the EFCC.

He said, “I am not under any probe; the publication is totally false. Even if I have the money, I wouldn’t buy houses in Maitama. My wife is a civil servant. We only have one house sold to us in Karo, Abuja. The publication is completely untrue.”

“They did not confirm the authenticity of the story, the publication about the properties did not give an address that indicates that it is a hatched work. After the first publication, there were a lot of reactions so they went to my hometown to interview everybody that knows me just to do justice to the first publication.”

After listening to the arguments in the court, Justice Okuwobi adjourned the matter till February 28, 2019, for further proceedings.