Former Nigerian Ambassador files libel lawsuit against ex-Foreign Minister, Onyeama in a US court

A libel claim against Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, the former minister of foreign affairs, has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas by Onoh Lilian, a former ambassador of Nigeria to Namibia.

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Mr. Gabriel Aduda, a permanent secretary at the ministry, has also entered the case.

No hearing date has been set for the case, which has been assigned to Judge Jane Boyle for decision-making.

According to court filings, Onoh claimed that Onyeama and Aduda had slandered her reputation by utilising an online newspaper situated in New York.

Steven Thornton, Onoh’s attorney, claimed in the court filing that an April article in an online newspaper claimed that Onoh had been fired by the Nigerian government for embezzling N50 million.

Thornton, her attorney, pointed out that Onoh’s photo was released by the media to make sure the story’s focal point was accurate.

In court documents, her attorney criticised the daily for portraying his client as corrupt after disclosing to its international readership that money intended for the operation of Nigeria’s High Commission in Namibia had been diverted.

According to the online daily, Aduda and Onyeama were part of the team that brought the fraud charge against Onoh.

at retaliation, Onoh accused Onyeama of supporting corrupt practices at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a string of memoranda sent to former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

As an ambassador, Onoh reportedly reported several instances of Nigerian officials embezzling millions of dollars and billions of Naira from the government of Nigeria, according to court documents.

She also disclosed the purported misappropriation of $2.8 million in Red Cross funds intended for victims of the Haitian earthquake, in addition to the acts of visa racketeering that her Jamaican replacement had committed in the USA and other nations.

The claimant’s attorney argued that the allegations made by the media in the purportedly offensive story were untrue and that she had never had her employment with the Nigerian government terminated due to financial embezzlement.

He further contended that neither Aduda nor Onyeama established a seven-member committee to look into Onoh.

Thornton asked for litigation expenses “and all such other and further relief at law and in equity to which Onoh may show herself to be justly entitled” in the claimant’s petitions before the judge.