Looters List: Uche Secondus demands N1.5b from Lai Mohammed for defamation of character

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Uche Secondus, has dragged the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, to court for defamation of character.

Uche Secondus had threatened to take legal actions against Lai Mohammed when he released a list that contained the names of alleged treasury looters, of which the PDP chairman’s name was among.


Ike Abonyi, who is a media aide to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, made this known in a statement on Friday.

Mr Lai Mohammed had included the name of the PDP National Chairman in the list of those who allegedly looted the nation’s treasury. The Minister alleged that the PDP National Chairman received N200million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.

In his reaction, Secondus had through his lawyer, Mr Emeka Etiaba, denied collecting any money from the former NSA. Consequently, he had asked the minister to pull back his name with immediate effect from the list. In addition, he demanded a public apology and payment of N1.5b damages within 48 hours.

Having failed to meet the demands, Uche Secondus made good his threat to sue Lai Mohammed. On Friday, April 6, 2018, Secondus filed a law suit at the Port Harcourt High Court in Rivers State.

The PDP National Chairman’s demands:

In the suit no/PHC/1013/2018, he asked the court to award him the sum of N1.5 billion as damages for “humiliation, castigation, vilification attack on his person and integrity as a result of the publication.”

He also claimed that the list published by the minister was defamatory and urged the court to direct Mohammed to retract the said publication and apologise in writing.

Secondus demanded that the retraction and apology be published on all social media platforms and other media organisations where it was earlier publicised and broadcasted.

He further asked the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from further publishing defamatory materials against him. Joined in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Attorney General of the Federation and a publishing firm.

Lai Mohammed is yet to respond to the suit.