Court Orders Oba Alatishe to Pay N500 million Damages for libel to Asiwaju Adegunwa

An Abeokuta High Court presided over by Justice E.O. Osinuga has slammed N500 million damages against Oba Adetoye Alatishe, the Gbengande of Ososa, in Ijebuland, Ogun State, for libel against a foremost industrialist, Dr. Sulaiman Adegunwa.

Oba Alatishe was also ordered to apologise and do a retraction in three national newspapers, namely Punch, ThisDay, and the Nation, for the malicious petition against the Claimant that was also published in the City People Magazine on January 15th and Obanta Newsday on August 7th, both in 2019.

This was in a case at the High Court sitting in Isabo, Abeokuta, on Friday, 11th April 2025, where Justice Osinuga stated that the defamatory petition against the Claimant and the publications were demeaning to the Claimant’s highly earned reputation.

The judge equally awarded N500,000 as cost of litigation against the royal father as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining the monarch from maligning the reputation of the Claimant, a renowned philanthropist and statesman, who had worked earnestly to earn the national award of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), the Asiwaju of Ijebuland, a high profile leader in Ososa, and have contributed immensely to the development of the community, and the nation in general.

The libelous suit with number 4CJ/205/19 and dated November 25, 2019, was filed by the Claimant over what he considered as a defamatory petition letter that Oba Alatishe reportedly wrote against him to former Governor Ibikunle Amosun on January 7, 2019.

The monarch was equally alleged to have sent copies of this petition to the then Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning, the Commissioner for Police as well as the Special Adviser to Gov. Amosun on Urban and Physical Planning, among others.
Oba Alatishe had in this letter alleged that “Alhaji Adegunwa at a gathering had promised to demolish the entire resuscitated and reconstructed Gbengande Market and turn same to a palace, while the present palace will be forcefully turned to a townhall through the office of the Special Adviser on Urban and Physical Planning”.

The monarch warned that “If this threat is not urgently checked and nipped in the bud, it is capable of leading to a monumental breach of peace, serious confrontation and total breakdown of law and order in the community”.

Considering the alleged falsehood of the petition, the Claimant resorted, first, to peaceful resolution, through his legal counsel to request an apology and a retraction of same in three national newspapers but the traditional ruler reneged.

He however sought legal redress given the damage the libelous publication had caused, because City People has national readership, and the dent on his image as a notable industrialist and philanthropist of global repute.

He had prayed the court for a declaration that the words employed by the defendant, the monarch, in his letter of 7th January 2019 and publication in the City People Magazine,  and the Obanta Newsday constitute libel.

Other reliefs sought included N5 billion damages, an order of perpetual injunction restraining the monarch from perpetrating or carrying out any disparaging/libelous publication against him, and a retraction of the libelous publication in three national newspapers, the Punch, ThisDay, and the Nation newspapers.

Also in her judgement, Justice Osinuga affirmed that Oba Alatishe relied on hearsay to arrive at the content of the libelous publication. “When the Kabiyesi was asked how he came about the information as contained in the letter, he said some people told him yet Kabiyesi was not ready to disclose these people,” she stated.

The judge also held that it was wrong and so unwise for the royal father to have refused to tender an apology knowing fully well that he has no evidence to substantiate his allegations against the industrialist. Osinuga held that a defamatory case had been strongly established against the monarch and therefore ruled in favour of the Claimant.