Terseer Ugbor, the federal lawmaker representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, has filed a N1 billion defamation lawsuit against Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday at the Benue State High Court in Makurdi, also names the governor’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Tersoo Kula, and media aide, Isaac Uzaan, as co-defendants.

In the suit (MHC/422/2024), Ugbor is seeking a court order compelling Governor Alia and his aides to remove all defamatory posts about him from their Facebook pages.

He also demands a public apology, to be published in at least five national newspapers and on social media platforms.

Furthermore, Ugbor requests a perpetual injunction preventing the governor and his aides from making any further defamatory statements about him.

In his statement of claim, Ugbor explained that he had repeatedly written to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on October 9 and 16, 2023, and May 8, 2024, requesting aid for victims of herdsmen attacks in Kwande Local Government Area (LGA). NEMA eventually approved and released relief materials, which Ugbor acknowledged.

While attending to national matters in the United States on September 11, 2024, Ugbor said he made arrangements for the transportation of the relief materials from NEMA’s warehouse in Jos to Makurdi—both capitals of Plateau and Benue states, respectively—where they were temporarily stored in a public warehouse. He planned to distribute the items to displaced persons in his constituency upon his return.

However, Ugbor alleged that Governor Alia impounded the vehicle carrying the relief items. He claimed that Isaac Uzaan then posted a defamatory article on Facebook titled “RE: ALIA VOWS TO MAKE LIFE UNBEARABLE FOR IDPs IN KWANDE.” On September 18, Kula followed with a press statement on Facebook accusing Ugbor of diverting relief materials, under the headline “Gov. ALIA HANDS OVER TRUCK OF DIVERTED RELIEF MATERIALS TO EFCC/ICPC.”

Additionally, Ugbor said that Governor Alia made defamatory remarks in a video shared on the Fr. Alia TV Network on September 18. In the video, the governor accused Ugbor of diverting materials meant for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and referred to him as a “dishonourable member.”

Aside from the N1 billion in damages for defamation, Ugbor is seeking other reliefs from the court. A hearing date for the case has not yet been set.