Nigerian leading songstress, Onyeka Onwenu whom we reported was asked by a High Court Judge, to publicly apologize to Tony Okoroji and pay him the sum of Five Million Naira for damages.
The immediate past Director General of the National Center for Women Development reacted to the judgment delivered against her by a judge of the Ikeja High Court, Justice I. O. Akinkugbe saying she will not apologize or pay him any money.
She told reporters that:
โThe judgment given by Justice Akinkugbe is most unfair and cannot stand.ย Throughout the trial, the plaintiffโs lawyer kept referring to the fact that I was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party and my appointment to office as Director General of the PDP but that I was serving under an APC Government.
โMy lawyer raised an objection as we did not think that my party affiliations had anything to do with the case at hand. But the judge to our consternation allowed that line of questioning. I am waiting to receive a copy of the judgment, at which point I will have more to say.
โFor now, I am certain that this judgment cannot and will not hold based on the fact that we were able dismiss the allegations convincingly and unequivocally. We are appealing the judgement, of course.
โMr. Tony Okoroji says a lot of things but he does not mean them. I shall provide a full rebuttal of the campaign of calumny that he is putting out against me in the aftermath of this judgment and more shall be revealed.ย I hold no personal grudge against him, my quarrels with him have always been on issues of probity and fair play.
โI have been very much there for Okoroji for so long and in many more ways than I care to remember. I respect his intellect and Iโve said so on many fora, but I will not stand by and watch him attempt to destroy the very reputation that he has found and made use of personally and officially in the past. Some of us left the Performing Musicians Employersโ Association of Nigeria for him to run aground, in order to avoid his trouble. He is hoping we will do the same with regard to the Copyright Society of Nigeria. That wish will not be granted.โ
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