Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (Rtd.), has filed a N1 billion defamation lawsuit against Pastor Paul Rika of the Holiness Revival Ministry Worldwide (HOREMOW).
The retired general is accusing the preacher of making defamatory statements about him in a book titled “God’s Message to Kuteb Tribe and Indigenes of Taraba State.”
The lawsuit was initiated by Danjuma’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Tayo Oyetibo. Danjuma claims that the book contains numerous false and damaging statements that have hurt his reputation.
The general’s legal team has given Pastor Rika seven days to withdraw these statements and apologize, or they will proceed with further legal action.
The controversial statements are said to be spread across several pages in the book, including pages 9, 13, 14, 16, 20, 25, and many more.
According to Danjuma, the content of these pages “impugned his character and ridiculed him,” damaging his image among friends, colleagues, and the wider public. The general also stated that the false claims had harmed his business interests both in Nigeria and abroad.
The letter read, “We act as solicitors to General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma GCON, (Rtd), (“”Our Client”), on whose instructions we write.
“Our client is an elder statesman who has served Nigeria in various capacities during his years of active service, including Chief of Army Staff from 1975 to 1979 and Minister of Defence from 1999- 2003, amongst other notable positions held by him.
His contributions to societal, community, and national development have spanned over four decades and he continues to serve through various platforms including the TY Danjuma Foundation which caters to the needs of the downtrodden, the disadvantaged, and the less privileged.
“Our client is also a Christian Elder and committed member of the Anglican Communion who believes fervently in the Holy Trinity and the sovereignty of the Almighty God in the affairs of men.
3. His commitment to societal development has spurred him to invest heavily in various humanitarian development projects and has demonstrated a robust track record of investment in human capacity development. As a testament to this, he has received over fifteen (|5) honorary doctorate degrees from several prestigious institutions within and outside Nigeria.
“Our client is an accomplished international businessman with numerous business ventures across the world, and as a distinguished corporate leader, he has served as chairman to several public quoted companies, including Guinness Plc, May and Baker Plc, and Union DICON Plc.
“He has been honoured with several national awards from many countries, including the Republic of Somalia, Benin Republic, Poland, France, etc.
“Since the return of democracy in Nigeria, our client has played a critical role in the shaping and advancement of democracy, both in Nigeria and Africa at large. His records demonstrate an unwavering commitment to ensuring a sane society, where peace, justice, fairness and the rule of law prevail, especially for the good people of Taraba State.
“Our client’s attention was drawn to a Book titled: “God’s Message to Kuteb Tribe and Indigenes of Taraba State” (the Book), written by Pastor Paul Rika and published by HOREMOW Printing Press, which was availed to him through some of his mentees who had purchased the book and read it.
“Upon receiving a copy of the Book, to his utter dismay, he discovered several heinous allegations made against him. The contents of the book particularly at pages:
9, 13, 14, I5, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 4 I, 42, 56, 58, 59, 6I, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 76, 83, 84, 85, 86, 90, 9I and 94, impugn our client’s good reputation, demonize him, and portray him as a wicked, mischievous, evil, and anti-democratic person.”
Danjuma said that The statements contained in the book are, in so far as they concern our him, were,reckless, ill-advised, and highly defamatory of him, as they lack any iota of truth, and are calculated not only to bring him into public odium, hatred, and contempt but also to incite public ill-will and opprobrium against him, without any respect for his
hard-earned reputation in Taraba State and Nigeria at large.
“The defamatory statements which you published of, and concerning our client have caused him great discomfort, embarrassment, and annoyance, and lowered him in the estimation of right-thinking members of the public who have read the book.
“Since the publication, he has been inundated with calls and other contacts from several people and leaders within and outside Nigeria, who read the book and are disturbed and disappointed.
“Our client, being a revered octogenarian who has dedicated his life to the service of humanity, is greatly distressed by your defamatory publication because his reputation built bya labour of many decades has been assaulted and jolted by your insensitive, malicious, and contemptuous false publication.
“Furthermore, our client has, in his employment, several foreigners and Nigerians of various tribes and religions, including a significant number of Kuteb people; and he has never been discriminatory in any form.
Upon a careful review of the facts of this matter, we have advised our client to be calm because the law will not allow your false and malicious defamatory publication to go
without a remedy.
“Accordingly, our client has instructed us to commence legalproceedings against you and the Holiness Revival Ministry Worldwide [as Defendants]to seek appropriate judicial remedies. That being so, the following, amongst other remedies, will be sought by our client against you and Holiness Revival Ministry Worldwide, that is:
a. A declaration that the statements contained aforementioned pages are defamatory
of him.
b. AN INJUNCTION restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, their
servants, agents and or representatives from printing, publishing, and
distributing same or similar libel of and concerning the Claimant.
c. An order that within 90 days of the order of this court the Defendants shall print, publish, and distribute a second edition of the book titled “God’s Message to Kuteb Tribe and Indigenes of Taraba State” in which they shall state the following: “In the first edition of this book, references were made to General T.Y Danjuma GCON [Rtd] at aforementioned pages all of which references are false in every material particular. We sincerely apologise to General T.Y Danjuma, GCON (Rtd] for all the false statements published of and concerning him in the first edition.”
