A High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has ordered social media critic Chika Nwoba to pay N5 million in damages to lawyer Ugadu Chinedu over defamatory posts made on Facebook.
The ruling followed a defamation suit filed by Chinedu and marked HAB/75/2024 before the court. The plaintiff accused Nwoba of publishing defamatory materials about him on his Facebook page between 2024 and 2025.
Delivering judgment, Justice Franklin Edem held that the posts tendered in court as Exhibits P1, P5, P9, P10 and P11 were defamatory. The court noted that the publications were made on June 15, 2024; September 18, 2024; February 18, 2025; and July 17, 2025.
The court subsequently ordered the defendant to pay the sum of N5 million as general and aggravated damages to the plaintiff.
Justice Edem also granted a perpetual injunction restraining Nwoba, his agents, or associates from making any further defamatory statements against Chinedu on any media platform.
In addition, the court directed Nwoba to retract the defamatory posts within 30 days of the judgment by publishing a retraction on his Facebook page for seven consecutive days, accompanied by a public apology to the plaintiff.
A High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has ordered a social media critic, Mr Chika Nwoba, to pay N5 million as damages to a legal practitioner, Ugadu Chinedu, over alleged defamation.
Nwoba was accused by the plaintiff in a suit marked HAB/75/2024 of posting some defamatory materials against him on his Facebook page in 2024 and 2025.
After considering all exhibits and evidences before the court, Justice Franklin Edem found Chika Nwoba guilty of
defaming Ugadu and ordered as follows: “That a declaration is hereby made that exhibits P1, P5, P9, P10 and P11 hereto which were publications made by the Defendant on 15/6/2024,18/9/2024, 18/2/2025 and 17/7/2025 on his Facebook page against the plaintiff are defamatory.
“That for his acts of publication of the defamatory matters as aforementioned, the defendant shall pay to the plaintiff the sum of (N5,000,000.00) five million naira only as general and aggravated damages.
“That an order of perpetual injunction is hereby made restraining the defendant and his agents, servants or privies from making any further defamatory publication in any media platform against the plaintiff.
“That the defendant is hereby ordered to within 30 days from the date of this judgement to make a retraction of the aforementioned defamatory publication by publishing such retraction on his Facebook page consistently for seven days. Such retraction shall be accompanied with an apology made by the defendant to the plaintiff.”
