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Copies of
Obasanjo’s My Watch
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Valentine
Ashi, a judge of a high court in the Federal Capital Territory, has ordered the
Nigerian customs service to release ‘My Watch’, the autobiography of former
president Olusegun Obasanjo banned in December 2014.
My Watch has been described as
one of the most controversial memoirs ever written by a Nigerian former
public office holder.
Buruji Kashamu, a
chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had obtained an injunction
restraining Obasanjo from releasing the book, saying the subject of the book
was libelous to his person. Kashamu also instituted a N20 billion libel case
against Obasanjo for referring to him as a drug baron in an open letter to
President Goodluck Jonathan in December 2013. Additionally, Kashamu, one of the
many people indicted by the book, subsequently secured a court order restraining
publication of the memoir or extracts from it.
But Obasanjo ignored the
court order and launched the book at the Lagos Country Club Ikeja on December
9.
One week later, Obasanjo himself confiscated the book,
directing its publishers to hand over the copy to him.
Consequently, Ashi
directed the confiscation of the book and also gave Obasanjo a 21-day
ultimatum to explain why he should not be punished for flouting the court’s
order.
But following an
application by Kanu Agabi, former attorney-general of the federation and
counsel to Obasanjo, Ashi set aside the injunction.
Agabi had sought the
vacation of the orders, arguing that the court wrongly applied the law in
reaching its decision.
He said the court ought
to have established whether or not the publication complained about was
libelous before restraining Obasanjo from engaging in further publication.
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