An Abuja High Court of FCT has requested Pointblanknews to pay an aggregate of N200m in harms to the offended party over a slanderous story it distributed.
An unmistakably upbeat Okonjo-Iweala took to her Twitter page to share the news of her triumph in court. She composed;
Cheerful to at last get equity in the criticism body of evidence against PointBlank News. It is essential our media keep up elevated expectations of exactness, straightforwardness and demonstrable skill
Point clear news had distributed a false story against Okonjo-Iweala in 2012, and declined to withdraw, even after it was ended up being false.
The judgment by Justice Chizoba N. Oji in suit No. FCT/HC/CV/2602/12 additionally incorporated a request of unending order limiting the respondents – the stage and its originators Jackson Ude and Churchill Umoren – from criticizing Dr Okonjo-Iweala later on.
Pointblanknews had distributed the false story, OKONJO-IWEALA BUYS N1.2 BILLION ABUJA MANSION in its release of January 10, 2012 in which it claimed that Okonjo-Iweala had acquired "a gigantic home in Maitama, Abuja for an astounding N1.2 billion".
As per the news stage, Okonjo-Iweala was likewise "stashing $2 billion (two billion dollars) in commission in the last obligation purchase back arrangement under the administration of the Olusegun Obasanjo's organization" (sic) with no evidence.
The story as indicated by examination turned out to be false as the proprietor, Mr Fabian Nwaora, who was said in the report denied pitching any property to Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
The court in its judgment forced general harms in the whole of N50,000,000 (Fifty Million Naira) and Exemplary harms in the aggregate of N150,000,000 (One hundred and fifty million Naira) against the Defendants mutually and severally.
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