BISHOP OLAOLUWA OLUWADAIRO V. KOLAK INVESTMENTS LTD & 5 ORS

FADAWU UMARU, J.C.A. (DELIVERING THE LEADING JUDGEMENT): This is an appeal against the judgment of the Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta Judicial Division, Per O.A. Onafowokan J. (herein referred to as “the trial Court) in Suit No. AB/399/2018 delivered on the 21st day of October, 2021. 

The Appellant instituted this action against the Respondents through a Writ of Summons at the trial Court. The action was founded on allegations of defamation of character arising from broadcast publications aired on several radio stations, which the Appellant contended gravely injured his reputation and standing as a cleric. The Appellant alleged that the Respondents deliberately and maliciously disseminated falsehoods portraying him as an adulterer, an expropriator of property, a fraudulent pastor, and an individual involved in occult practices. Based on these allegations, he sought substantial monetary damages, a public retraction and apology, as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining th…