A Federal High Court in Abuja has vacated the order
restraining ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo from
publishing, printing or offering for sale, his controversial
autobiography titled "My Watch." which had been in the
custody of the Nigerian Customs Service since 2014
following a N20billion libel lawsuit by PDP chieftain,
Buruji Kashamu, asking the court to stop the
distribution of the book because of some things
Obasanjo wrote about him in the book. In the book,
Obasanjo described Buruji as a fugitive wanted in the
US. A court, last year, ordered security and law
enforcement agencies including customs to confiscate
the book anywhere they saw the book.
But on Monday, Justice Valentine Ashi who in December
2014 placed a ban on the book, vacated his earlier order
on the ground that the plaintiff and a PDP chieftain,
Buruji Kashamu, suppressed fact from the court to
obtain the order.
According to Justice Ashi, Kashamu who had
approached the court saying that the book was libelous,
did not prove that the book was indeed libelous. Lead
counsel to the former President, Mr Agabi proved to
Justice Ashi in court that he was misled by the plaintiff.
Justice Ashi afterwards set aside his order directing the
Inspector General of Police (IG), the Director General of
the Department of State Services (DSS) and the
Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) to recover the
published book from all book stands, sales agents,
vendors, the sea and airports and deposit them with his
court's registrar pending the determination of the
substantive suit.
He also restrained the Comptroller General of Customs
(CGC) from charging demurrage on copies of the book
already confiscated. The case was adjourned to May 25
for further hearing.
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