Management of African digital conglomerate, Zinox Technologies Limited, has demanded a public apology from Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, over alleged defamation and reputational injury inflicted on the company and its representatives by Falana and his client, Benjamin Joseph, the CEO of Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, an Ibadan-based computer firm.

In a statement, yesterday, Zinox referenced recent news items in the media relating to certain charges filed by Falana, purporting to act on a fiat granted to him by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), whom Zinox said might not have been properly briefed.

In the news reports, Falana was said to have filed a suit before Justice A. O. Ebong of the FCT High Court in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 in November 2024, a suit Zinox said was based on the same claims, which various courts had in the past dismissed as falsehood and baseless.

“Our initial reaction was to ignore these publications as the usual campaigns of calumny that had been orchestrated against Zinox since 2014 by one Benjamin Joseph, the Managing Director of Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd, the client of Femi Falana (SAN). However, we are persuaded to respond by the consideration that once falsehood is sustained over time, it tends to acquire the garb of truth.”

Zinox said the case arose from a contract between Citadel and Technology Distributions Limited over the supply of computers to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), stressing that the matter had no bearing whatsoever with Zinox and its promoter, Leo Stan Ekeh.

Zinox cited instances Joseph lost the case and its adjunct suit. Zinox alleged that the current charges said to have been filed by Falana on the basis of a fiat from the Attorney General is the third in a row as he had earlier filed charge no.CR/469/2022, which was struck out by Justice C. O. Oba of the FCT High Court, by an order November 8, 2022.