A high court of the federal capital territory has granted an
order of substituted service against Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, senator representing
Ebonyi north.
Angela Otaluka, the presiding judge, granted the order
following a motion ex parte filed by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator
representing Kogi Central, seeking to serve court documents on the Ebonyi
lawmaker via substituted means.
Moving the ex parte motion on Wednesday, Yahuza Zakari,
counsel to Akpoti-Uduaghan, told the court that they seek to serve notice on
Nwaebonyi by publishing in a national newspaper or through the clerk of the
national assembly or senate.
“There is need to serve the originating processes and any
other incidental process via substituted means in order to bring this matter to
the defendant’s attention, owing to the impractical nature of serving the
defendant personally,” the application stated.
“That service of the processes by publication in a widely
circulated national daily newspaper in Nigeria, or through the clerk of the
national assembly or the clerk of the senate, will bring the suit to the
attention of the defendant.
“This honourable court has the inherent jurisdiction to
grant an order for substituted service with or without an attempt to personally
serve, depending on the circumstances. It will be in the interest of justice
for service to be effected through substitute means.”
The judge ruled that the Ebonyi senator should be served via
newspaper publication.
In the suit marked CV/1359/2025 filed in April, the Kogi
senator asked the court to declare that the statements made by Nwaebonyi during
an interview on Channels Television on March 6, 2025, are “false and
malicious”.
Akpoti-Uduaghan said the Ebonyi senator labelled her a “gold
digger, habitual liar, and habitual blackmailer” during the interview.
The Kogi senator asked the court to rule that the comments
claiming that she is “a mother of six from different men” is “false, malicious,
and defamatory”.
She said Nwaebonyi’s statements had caused significant harm
to her reputation and public embarrassment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan prayed the court to restrain Nwaebonyi from
making any further “malicious” comments against her.
She asked the court to rule that Nwaebonyi pays the sum of
N5 billion as “aggravated and exemplary damages in favour of the claimant for
the false, malicious and injurious statement”.
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Senator Onyekachi Nwaeboenyi is a mistake in the red chambers. Only because of no qualified persons in his district will make such a baby become senator. I have no doubt that he will not be coming back to the senate after this assembly. He has poor memory, as such not suitable in any way to be in the senate.
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