A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has fixed May 27 for the hearing of a suit filed by Marketing Edge Publications Limited against the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria over alleged threat and harassment arising from one of its publications.
The trial Judge, Taiwo Olatokun fixed the date in the suit filed by the claimant’s counsel, Idorenyen Enang marked ID/10977GCMN/2024. The claimant is praying to the court for an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the first defendant and all its officers and allies from further threat and harassment of any form either using the Police or any other security agencies.
Aside from the National Institute, the president, Felix Akisola is the second respondent in the suit. The claimant alleged that the institute embarked on a witch hunt with a fierce determination to undermine its efforts and reputation to run down the claimant’s business through toxic and malicious publications.
The firm is therefore praying for an order of court for a perpetual injunction restraining the first defendant, its officers, and other persons acting for and on behalf of the defendants from continued publication of the libelous publication or any other publication to that effect.
It also seeks a perpetual injunction restraining the second defendant either by himself, his officers or any person acting for and on his behalf from further threat and harassment of any form and from publishing or making libelous and defamatory statements towards the claimant and or any person, natural or non-natural associated with it.
The claimant prayed the court for, among others, damages in the sum of N20 million being damages for assault on its reputation, a reduction in the esteem of right-thinking members of the society and damaging utterances by the defendant against the claimant,
It also prayed for a retraction in its entirety of the public notice made by the Institute of Marketing of Nigeria in a Newspaper on Friday, November 24, 2023.
The claimant further demanded an apology by the institute in four national dailies stating that the claimant is not in breach of any laws in its ordinary course of business.
In its 36-paragraph affidavit, the claimant averred that it is clear that the institute has embarked on a witch hunt with a fierce determination to undermine the efforts and reputation of the claimant with the sinister intention of running down the business of the claimant through toxic and malicious publications.
The firm averred that despite the exchange of correspondence between itself and the defendants, it still went ahead to file a petition with the Police alleging a criminal breach of its statutory powers and naming the claimants and the claimant’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a number of the claimant’s affiliates in the said petition. It swore that the police had refused to oblige the claimant with a copy of the petition.
