A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has granted Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, permission to serve court processes in his N100 billion defamation suit against former Commissioner for Information, Hon. Eze Chikamnayo, through social media platforms — Facebook and WhatsApp.

Justice J.E. Obanor, in a ruling delivered on October 16, 2025, approved the governor’s application for substituted service, allowing the court bailiff to serve the writ of summons and other processes on Chikamnayo via his Facebook account, “Iyierioba Chikamnayo,” and his registered phone and WhatsApp number.

The case has been adjourned to January 19, 2026, for hearing.

In the motion ex parte filed by Otti’s counsel, Dr. Sonny Ajala (SAN), the governor prayed the court to permit substituted service, citing the defendant’s previous use of the same channels to receive a solicitor’s demand letter.

The letter, dated October 2, 2025, had requested a retraction of several allegedly defamatory online publications.

The suit, filed on October 8, 2025 (Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/3921/2025), followed Chikamnayo’s alleged failure to honour the demand for a public apology and retraction of the posts.

Governor Otti, through his counsel, is seeking a declaration that his reputation, goodwill, and standing as a person, husband, father, and political leader were gravely damaged by the defendant’s “persistent, false and malicious online publications” on Facebook.

The court documents referenced several Facebook posts made between July and September 2025, including posts captioned “Alex Otthief is a confirmed criminal and disaster” (September 22, 2025), “Fighting Promax” (September 21, 2025), “Old or New Abia?” (September 14, 2025), “Sabbath Message” (September 13, 2025), “Still on the matter” (September 9, 2025), “Alex Otthief is a confirmed criminal and congenital liar = Looting Governor” (August 15, 2025) and “Government of Alex Otthief for Zignature Bank = Ruin Abia” (July 21, 2025).

Otti is seeking N100 billion in general damages for alleged loss of reputation, psychological distress, and emotional trauma caused by the publications. He is also asking the court to compel Chikamnayo to tender an unreserved apology for each of the posts, to be published on his Facebook page and in ThisDay, The Nation, The Punch and National Ambassador newspapers.

In addition, the governor is praying for a perpetual injunction restraining Chikamnayo from “writing, authoring, sharing, broadcasting, forwarding, or syndicating any content defamatory of the claimant” across all media platforms, including social media and traditional media outlets, and is demanding N250 million as the cost of prosecuting the suit.

Justice Obanor ordered that Chikamnayo must enter an appearance within 30 days of being served or risk judgment being entered against him in default.

In the earlier demand letter, Dr. Ajala stated that Governor Otti was “the only sitting governor in Nigeria bearing the name Alex Chioma Otti,” leaving no ambiguity about whom the online posts referred to, and described Chikamnayo’s publications as “false, malicious, and calculated to instigate public hatred.”

Ajala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, noted that Otti’s “integrity has remained stainless” throughout his distinguished banking career, during which he rose to become Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc before joining politics.

The letter accused Chikamnayo’s posts of causing “unquantifiable mental torture, depression, denigration, and brutal destruction of reputation built over the decades,” warning that failure to retract them within seven days would lead to legal action, a warning that has now resulted in court proceedings. (Daily Independent)

Update news