Posted by The Port Harcourt Telegraph on
The Telegraph and Professor Tam David-West have decided to end a protracted libel suit which has been going on in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State.
.. As Telegraph apologizes over a publication
The Telegraph and Professor Tam David-West have decided to end a protracted libel suit which has been going on in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State.
Professor David-West had sued the Telegraph over an advertorial which he said he had reason to believe was libelous..
But in the last few months, there have been efforts to settle out of court. About two weeks ago, Professor David-West after a chat with Telegraph publisher agreed to take the case out of court.
The Telegraph nonetheless agreed to render an apology while Nigeria's leading Professor of Virology made it clear that apart from protecting his image, he had no intention to shut down the paper.
The Ibdan High Court heard Tuesday that the defendants, that is the Telegraph "had accepted their publication in their issue of The Port Harcourt Telegraph of April 1, 2001, page 7 under the headlines "A Professor For Sale. Tam David-West: Virologist Turned Cheap Paid Journalist - A Sell Out" was libelous of Professor Tam David-West."
Similarly, the document of settlement which was regarded as the decision of the Ibadan High Court deposed to by Professor Tam David-West (Plaintiff) and Ogbonna Nwuke (defendant) agreed "to cause to be published conspicuously in The Port Harcourt Telegraph the retraction and apology"
And agreed that the plaintiff and the defendants in settling had decided to bear their costs of litigation.
Telegraph's Editor-in-Chief Tuesday thanked Professor David-West for the maturity exhibited.
"We are grateful" Nwuke told Professor David-West on phone.
Please find both the retraction and apology on our inside pages.