In reaction to defamatory article credited to Mr. Uzor Chikere and published on his beats-onit.com website on April 8, 2019, B. E. Ehiwele and Co., lawyers to Efe Omorogbe have written to demand immediate retraction, formal apology and the sum of N200,000,000.00 in settlement.
For this and a series of other articles published with the clearly malicious intention to damage the reputation of the respected creative entrepreneur and leading figure in the founding of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), the journalist will be slapped with a lawsuit if he fails to meet the demands within a 2-week period.
This move has become necessary in the light of constant libelous attacks on Efe Omorogbe since early 2018.
Upon receipt of the regulator’s position on the illegality of the resolutions that purportedly reinstated Tony Okoroji after his December 7, 2017 sacking, Omorogbe convened a board meeting on March 6, 2018 in his capacity as legal chairman.
That board meeting which held at the main entrance of COSON House because the management had locked out the directors triggered a series of lawsuits and the eventual suspension of the operating licence of COSON.
Uzor Chikere and his news website, beats-onit.com, curiously adopting self-appointed role of Okoroji’s cheer leader have subjected Efe Omorogbe to a barrage of attacks depending mainly on half-truths and blatant lies to malign his character and public image.
Against the basic ethics of the journalism profession, Uzor Chikere has repeatedly published false and maliciously skewed stories without extending to Efe Omorogbe, the right to state his side of the story in reaction to whatever his sources had alleged.
The day of reckoning seems to have arrived for the veteran journalist who may now have to defend his statements in court.
