A high court in Abuja has struck out the case filed by Bash Ali, a former world cruiserweight boxing champion, against Sunday Dare, a former sports minister, over allegations of extortion and defamation of character.
At the court session on Thursday, U.P. Kekemeke, presiding
judge, struck out the suit and declared the life of the case terminated.
In the case numbered FCT/HC/CV/6411/2023, Ali sued Dare, the
federal government, and D.A. Muhammad, who was the legal director of the sports
ministry.
Ali accused Dare of extorting N13 million from him to stage a Guinness World Record fight in Nigeria.
The former boxing champion also claimed that the federal
government stalled the hosting of the fight despite facilitating an advance
payment of $12 million.
In Ali’s prayer to the court, he demanded N500 billion in
damages for the alleged extortion and defamation of his character by Dare
during the period.
At the hearing, the judge criticised Ali for being frivolous
and wasting the court’s time. The court effectively dismissed all the
allegations against Dare, and the suit’s statute was barred.
For over 20 years, Ali has been aiming to clinch the world
record for the oldest boxing champion.
The 69-year-old seeks to beat the record set by Bernard
Hopkins when he defeated Tavoris Cloud in 2013 to win the IBF light-heavyweight
crown at 48.
In pursuit of his quest, Ali has been embroiled in bitter
disputes with successive sports ministers and has accused several individuals
of corruption.
In 2013, the legendary boxer accused Bolaji Abdullahi, a
former sports minister, of demanding a bribe to stage the record match. The
situation deteriorated after Abdullahi demanded a public apology from Ali over
the allegation, and the boxer refused.
In 2015, Ali also fell out with Dalung after accusing the
then sports minister of frustrating the organisation of the match. He claimed
that Dalung had been plotting to cut a deal for himself with the Bank of
Industry and NEXIM Bank, who had reportedly planned to sponsor the fight.
In 2024, the former cruiserweight champion accused John
Enoh, another former sports minister, of demanding “$1 million” from him before
the record bout could be staged. It took a threat of legal action from the
former sports minister to restrain Ali from making further defamatory comments.
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