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A Kano state high court has ordered Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, to pay N800,000 to Ja’afar Ja’afar, publisher of Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper, over a dollar bribery video.
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A series of the secretly recorded videos in 2018 had shown a figure believed to be Ganduje pocketing wads of dollars allegedly taken as kickbacks.
The governor had denied the videos, saying they were doctored. He blamed it on mischief makers who were bent on tarnishing his reputation.
He had also gone to the court in the attempt to clear his name, while asking the publisher to pay N3 billion in damages.
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On June 28, the governor filed an application at the court through his counsel, Offiong Offiong, seeking to discontinue the case.
During the hearing of the case, on Tuesday, Utum Eteng, counsel to Ja’afar, and M.B. Azumi, counsel to Penlight Media Limited, publisher of Daily Nigerian, did not object the application, but demanded the sum of N400 million as part of terms to discontinue the suit.
The lawyers also demanded an apology, which they said should be published in national dailies, as well as a pre-action letter.
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In his ruling, Suleiman Na-mallam, the presiding judge, granted the sum of N400,000 each to Ja’afar and his company.
The judge was, however, silent on the prayer by the defendants for the governor to make a public apology in national dailies.
