Court Rules Heavily Against Onyeka Onwenu In Dispute With Tony Okoroji

The war between COSON chairman, Tony Okoroji and veteran singer, Onyeka Onwenu has taken a new twist.



This follows an order by a Lagos High Court that Onyeka Onwenu should pay the sum of N5million as damages for defamation of character to Chief Tony Okoroji, former President of PMAN and Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON).

The court also ordered Onwenu to tender an unreserved public apology to Chief Okoroji and a written publication of the apology.

It would be recalled that the war between Okoroji and Onyeka dates back to 2011 when Okoroji went to court following the publication of an article, which he considered a deliberate attempt to malign or defame him.

According to the COSON chair, the article which claimed he diverted N3m donated by the Cross Rivers State Government towards the final burial of Christy Essien Igbokwe, was ‘unjustified, unwarranted, malicious, wicked, reckless and libelous.’

The case was however thrown out by a Lagos State High Court, which ruled in the case that “For words to be defamatory of a party, the said words must have lowered that party in the estimation of right-thinking members of the public and there must be evidence of this from a person whose views of that person have been so adversely affected.”