The Chairman, Daar Communications
Plc, Chief Raymond Dopkesi, on Tuesday told FCT High Court Apo, that everybody
treated him like a plague after his name appeared on the looters’ list released
by the Ministry of Information.
Dokpesi stated this while being
cross-examined by the defendants’ counsel in a suit he filed before Justice
Olukayode Adeniyi, of an FCT High Apo, seeking N5 billion damages from Alhaji
Lai Mohammed and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.
He dragged the ministers to the
court, claiming that they defamed his character by including his name on the
treasury looters’ list.
He told the court that the
Information Minister had on March 30, 2018 during a press conference portrayed
him as “a corrupt and crooked person, a dishonest man and a thief”.
Dokpesi insisted that his
reputation has been seriously injured, adding that he has suffered considerable
distress, ridicule, as well as political analysis in the media, castigating him
on the basis of the inclusion of his name as number four on the looters’ list,
NAN reports.
He, therefore, demanded N5
billion in damages for libel and also urged the court to order the defendants
to publish a full retraction and apology to him in all major electronic and
print media outlets in country.
Dokpesi, while answering
questions from counsel for the defendants, Damian Agbe, stated that he was
unjustly called a looter of treasury.
“The minister (Lai Mohammed) said
I was a looter. The minister clearly in his statement stated that he is
releasing the list of looters.
“The word ‘alleged’ was never
used in his statement. I am in the media; I am a media proprietor,” the
claimant told the court.
Though he agreed with Agbe that
he was facing trial for allegedly collecting N2.1 billion from the Office of
the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Dokpesi declared that he had not been
found guilty by any court.
“What is in the public domain is
the fact that N2.1 billion was paid to an institution called Daar Investment
and Holding Company Limited, operators of Africa Independent Television and Ray
Power National Network FM. But not that I, Raymond Dokpesi looted the
treasury,” he said.
According to him, as a result of
his being listed among treasury looters, he no longer enjoyed the goodwill of
his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He informed that the party
recently released the lists of members of campaign councils for the forthcoming
governorship elections in both Bayelsa and Kogi but he was rejected by the
party.
“The list of members of campaign
councils for Bayelsa and Kogi where I was rejected was released.
“Everybody is treating me like a
plague. I was rejected. There are members of national campaign council of
leaders nationwide and Raymond Dokpesi is conspicuously absent.”
He told the court that though he
held no position in the opposition party, I was a leader a stakeholder in the
PDP.
Dokpesi added that all his
witnesses who came to testify for him in the case are political associates who
he knew for a long period of time.
He further stated that he had
suffered a lot of setbacks and discrimination by the society due to his
inclusion on the looters’ list.
Meanwhile, Justice Adeniyi
adjourned the case until Jan. 16, 2020 for defence.
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