Africa-Press – Nigeria. A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has allowed Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, to serve his ₦100bn defamation lawsuit on former Commissioner of Information, Eze Chikamnayo, through Facebook and WhatsApp.
Justice J.E. Obanor gave the order on October 16, 2025, approving Otti’s request for substituted service. The judge ruled that the court documents could be sent to Chikamnayo via his Facebook page, “Iyierioba Chikamnayo” and his phone number on WhatsApp. The court then adjourned the case to January 19, 2026, for hearing.
Otti’s lawyer, Dr. Sonny Ajala (SAN), had asked the court to allow this method of service since the former commissioner used the same platforms to post the alleged defamatory messages. One of the posts cited in the case was published on September 22, 2025, and read: “Alex Otthief is a confirmed criminal and disaster.”
In his suit filed on October 8, 2025, Governor Otti claimed that Chikamnayo’s Facebook posts between July and September 2025 were “false, malicious and damaging” to his reputation. He is seeking a declaration that his “reputation, respect, goodwill and standing as a person, husband, father and political leader has been grossly injured.”
The governor is asking the court to compel Chikamnayo to pay ₦100bn as damages for “psychological and emotional trauma,” and to issue a public apology in several national newspapers including ThisDay, The Nation, The Punch, and The National Ambassador. He also wants the court to permanently restrain Chikamnayo from making any further defamatory posts about him.
Otti further seeks ₦250m as the cost of prosecuting the case. The court ordered Chikamnayo to respond within 30 days of receiving the documents or risk judgment in his absence.
In an earlier letter dated October 2, 2025, Otti’s lawyer had warned Chikamnayo to retract his “malicious” posts within seven days, saying: “Our client, for the avoidance of doubt, is the only Governor and Chief Executive of a State within the 36 States of Nigeria who bears the name Alex Chioma Otti.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria stressed that Otti “has no criminal indictment whatsoever or conviction by any court of law” and described the posts as “falsehood” intended to cause “public hatred” against the governor.
Ajala said the publications caused “unquantifiable mental torture, depression and brutal destruction” of Otti’s reputation, warning that failure to retract them would lead to legal action — a promise now fulfilled.
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