Senior lawyer threatens to sue colleague over alleged defamatory publications

A legal practitioner, Dr Onyekachi Ubani, SAN, has threatened to sue Mr Tonye Clinton Jaja, also a lawyer, for allegations bordering on serial defamatory publications.

Ubani made this known on Tuesday in Abuja in a statement signed by his lawyer, Nkem Okoro.

Okoro said his attention and that of his client were drawn to “another reckless sensational and legally irresponsible publication authored by one Tonye Clinton Jaja.”

He said in the publication, Ubani ‘s name “was casually and maliciously inserted into an alleged criminal narrative without a single fact, detail, document, transaction, witness, or nexus linking him to any wrongdoing whatsoever.”

He referred to the contents of some letters written by Clinton to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, as well as Nigerians lawyers, wherein, he allegedly made disparaging, defamatory statements and criminal allegations against Ubani.

Okoro alleged that Clinton also wrote an open letter to the EFCC on Jan. 12, 2026, where he levelled allegations of fraud against the former AGF, Abubakar Malami; Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and Ubani.

The lawyer said in another letter to the EFCC, Clinton equally accused Ubani of complicity in the prosecution of a former Chairman of Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) by “aiding and abetting his client’s escape to evade EFCC prosecution.”

Okoro, therefore, said “this publication is not only defamatory and malicious, but also constitutes a deliberate violation of a subsisting court order restraining Tonye Clinton Jaja from publishing further defamatory materials against our client.”

He explained that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had restrained Clinton and his co-defendant (who is also a lawyer) from further making derogatory publications against the senior colleague, Ubani pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice before the court.

According to Okoro, the order of Justice S.U. Bature followed a motion ex-parte no; FCT/HC/M/16245/2025, that was moved and argued by him.

He said Justice Bature, in the enrolled order dated Dec. 9, 2025, further granted an order directing the maintenance of status quo ante bellum, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

“Despite pending civil and criminal proceedings already instituted against him (Clinton), the author has persistently continued this campaign of reckless publications in utter disregard for the authority of the court and the rule of law,” he said.

Okoro stated that mere mentioned of a person’s name in a criminal narrative without particulars is neither evidence nor public interest disclosure.

According to him, it is character assassination and abuse of media space.

“Our client has neither had any professional, financial, administrative, or personal dealings with the the former Attorney General of the Federation Mr Malami SAN nor with the author,  and has never been connected in any manner whatsoever to the allegations irresponsibly propagated in the said publication.

“The author’s complete failure to supply any factual particulars further exposes the hollowness and mischief embedded in his claims.

“We wish to place the public on notice that our firm has already activated and continues to pursue robust civil and criminal enforcement processes against  Tonye Clinton Jaja arising from his serial defamatory publications and contemptuous conduct.

“These processes shall be methodically prosecuted to their logical conclusion until full legal redress is achieved.

“If the author genuinely possesses any credible evidence against our client, the proper forum remains the courtroom, not media trials, open-letter propaganda, or reckless abuse of public platforms.

“The public is therefore urged to discountenance the said publication in its entirety and to remain guided by verifiable facts, judicial processes, and the rule of law.

“All further defamatory publications shall attract immediate and escalated legal consequences sooner or later. It is only a matter of time!” the statement read.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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