An  High Court has fixed the 3^rd of March, 2011 for definite hearing,  on  a case involving  Champion Newspapers, Malachy Uzendu ,  of Champion Newspapers and  Mr. Ben-Bright Mkpuma, Northern editor  of Financial Standard and Publisher of Watchdogreporters, an online news magazine, in a case of defamation of character.

Malachy Uzendu, had in April, 2010, allegedly defamed Mr. Mkpuma, in a case between Ezza community and Ezza-Ezillo of Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Claiming to have spoken to the former Inspector-general of Police, Mr. Onovo Ogbonna, the Plaintiff wrote that,”one Mr. Ben Bright Mkpuma, an Abuja-based journalist”, was “been charged to court for matters connected with the Ebonyi crises, saying they could not arraigned(sic) for their pleas to be taken because the Federal high court judge sitting in Abuja, before whom the matter was assigned to, did not sit last Tuesday.”

The Plantiff, Ben-Bright Mkpuma, who is also the Treasurer of Abuja Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) dragged the Newspaper and its reporter, Mr. Nzendu, to court over what he described as defamation on his personality. The Plaintiff is asking for a whopping N2 billion from the defendants.

According to Malachy’s story of April 1, 2010, ”Onovo who spoke in a telephone interview explained that though his men were ambushed and killed by some hoodlums operating in the disputed area, "I have instructed the Commissioner of Police to immediately send reinforcement to the area and rid the place of hoodlums and other undesirables operating in the area".

“He noted that some leaders of the disputed area, including one Mr. Ben Bright Mkpuma, an Abuja-based journalist, have been charged to court for matters connected with the Ebonyi crises, saying they could not arraigned for their pleas to be taken because the Federal high court judge sitting in Abuja, before whom the matter was assigned to, did not sit last Tuesday”.

Barr. Esther Uzoma, a counsel to the Plaintiff had argued in (one) of the hearings before Hon. Justice A.S Umar that the defendant’s action was carried against her client (Ben-Bright) out of malice, bearing in mind that Mr. Malachy has various court cases pending against some members of the NUJ.  She noted that the defendants have not deemed it fit  to tender an apology  to his client after writing the alleged defamatory story.

She further observed that the “when some of the plaintiff’s colleagues gathered at the NUJ Abuja Press Council, the treated the plaintiff with reservation and called him derogatory names; and that the Inspector-general of Police never issued any press statement in regard of the Ebonyi crisis where in the plaintiff was said to be  a culprit and the  Nigerian Police after investigation did not charge the plaintiff to court; that the 2^nd only wanted to use the medium of the 1^st defendant to further an existing bad faith he has for the plaintiff.