An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday struck out the defamation suit filed by renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, and his son, popular rapper Folarin Falana (Falz), against Instagram influencer Martins Otse, widely known as Verydarkblackman (VDM).
The suit stemmed from a social media video posted by VDM, which followed an audio recording allegedly made by controversial cross-dresser Bobrisky, accusing Falana and his son of aiding perversion of justice. In their claim, the Falanas sought N500 million each in damages for what they described as malicious defamation.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, neither the claimants nor the defendant were present in court. However, the defendant’s counsel, Mr. Niyi Alagbe — holding brief for Mr. Marvin Omorogbe — informed the court that an application for stay of proceedings had been filed before Justice Fimisola Azeez.
Responding, Mr. Omotayo Olatunbosun, counsel to the Falanas, acknowledged receipt of the application late on Monday evening. He argued that the day’s proceedings were meant to address a pending preliminary objection and accused the defense of attempting to delay the matter unnecessarily.
Justice Matthias Dawodu, after reviewing the submissions, noted that the application for stay was not included in the case file. He also expressed concern about the judicial duplication, observing that the substantive suit was already before another judge.
“Since the substantive suit is before another judge, continuing with this proceeding would be nothing more than an academic exercise,” the judge held.
Justice Dawodu thereafter ordered the suit struck out.
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