Group Faults Alleged US Court Subpoena On President Buhari

A group has decried reports in some online media platforms that a US Court issued a Subpoena on President Muhammadu Buhari alongside other prominent members of his government over a defamation case brought by Engr. Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) against Jackson Ude, publisher of pointblanknews.com in a US Court.

The group in a statement described the subpoena as fake.

The group, Nigerian Oil and Gas Indigenous Operators Association (NOGIOA) through its Chairman, Galadima Auwal decried the false claims as a cheap tactic by the online publisher to escape the strong arm of the US legal system.

In a statement issued Thursday in Abuja, the group noted that reports of the subpoena on President Buhari, tended to create the impression that “… the table has turned against Mr. Wabote, the plaintiff”. It said “nothing could be farther from the truth.

“Since the lawsuit was filed and start of the hearing, Ude and his cohorts have continued to issue misleading and vexatious publications, neglecting the principle of sub judice, which forbid parties to a lawsuit from resorting to media trial once issues are joined and hearing begins.  This is a well-known legal doctrine in Nigeria, even in the US and all Common Law countries. But Ude and his co-travelers have continued with their campaign of calumny against Mr. Wabote, instead of facing squarely the case in court by producing evidence to prove the accusation of bribe-taking which was made against Mr. Wabote in the article for which he was sued.

“We would have ignored the recent publication as usual, but it comes across to us as a particularly disingenuous attempt to distort the truth and to conceal Ude’s colossal losses in the pending lawsuit, which he has desperately sought to truncate without success, knowing that he has no defense to the claim. 

“For the avoidance of doubts, we are aware that Mr. Wabote has categorically stated that he does not operate any foreign account and there is no evidence to the contrary. So, if Ude has evidence of a foreign account, the onus is on him to prove his case conclusively. This is the law in Nigeria and even in the US: He who alleges bears the responsibility to prove. 

“Curiously, instead of Ude to go ahead and prove his allegation, he and his cohorts are busy gloating that “the table has turned against Mr. Wabote, the plaintiff”; and this is false.

“To set the record straight, many would recall that in May 2021, Mr.  Wabote instituted a lawsuit in the US State of Pennsylvania against the said Jackson Ude, for defaming his character through a false and libelous online article which Ude published, accusing Mr. Wabote of taking a bribe for the award of the EPC contract for the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 7 project. Mr. Wabote was so outraged by that malicious and unfounded accusation that he vowed to seek legal redress to vindicate himself and preserve his hard-earned reputation.

“As soon as the lawsuit was instituted in the US, Ude realized that he has nowhere again to hide because he has no answer to the case of defamation hanging over his neck. Thus, he started to try all manner of legal tricks, including filing counterclaims, questioning the court’s jurisdiction, even the law under which the action was filed, the issue of forum convenience, and whether the US Court was the proper venue to hear the case. He urged the court to return the matter to Nigeria. His intent, no doubt, was to get the case dismissed, but none of his tricks worked. All his arguments failed and were denied.

The group noted that as to the issue of subpoena allegedly issued by the US Court against President Buhari, in the case, such invitation to testify and produce documents is a normal adjudicatory process and does not amount to a victory for which a party to a lawsuit would gloat about or celebrate. Any party to a US litigation has the right to issue subpoenas.

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