An Ikeja High Court has struck out the defamation suit filed by Femi Falana (SAN) and his son Falz against Instagram celebrity Verydarkblackman

An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday dismissed the defamation suit brought against Instagram personality Martins Otse, also known as Verydarkblackman (VDM), by prominent human rights lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, the popular musician Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana.

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The lawsuit stemmed from an audio recording, purportedly made by cross-dresser Bobrisky, accusing Mr Falana and Falz of perverting justice, which VDM subsequently made public.

The claimants, Mr Falana and Falz, were each seeking N500 million in damages for a video VDM allegedly posted on his various social media platforms.

When the case was presented in court on Tuesday, neither Mr Falana, Falz, nor VDM were present.

Mr Niyi Alagbe, representing the respondent VDM and holding brief for Mr Marvin Omorogbe, informed Justice Fimisola Azeez that he had previously filed an application for a stay of proceedings.

In response, Mr Omotayo Olatunbosun, counsel for the Falanas, stated that he had only received the aforementioned application on Monday at approximately 4:15 p.m.

Mr Olatunbosun argued that the scheduled business for the day was the hearing of the preliminary objection, which he contended was ready to proceed, and that the new application was merely a tactic to delay the proceedings. He urged the presiding judge to proceed with the day’s agenda.

Justice Matthias Dawodu, however, noted that the application in question was not present in the court file. He questioned why the court was being engaged with this particular suit when the substantive matter was already before another court.

Ultimately, Justice Dawodu ruled to strike out the suit. He reasoned that insisting on proceeding with this particular case would be an academic exercise, given that the core defamation suit was already being heard by a different judge within the same court system.

“Consequently, this suit is hereby struck out,” Justice Dawodu declared. (NAN)