Lagos, Nigeria – A High Court for Lagos State wey dey Ikeja on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, don strike out preliminary objection for defamation case wey human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, and im son, popular musician Folarin Falana wey people sabi as Falz, file against social media personality Vincent Otse, wey dem also dey call VeryDarkMan. Justice Mathias Dawoodu gree strike out di case after e find out say di main case don dey for another court, make am no more necessary to continue.
No be say Femi Falana, Falz, or Otse dey present for di hearing. But di counsel wey represent di defendant, N.O. Alagbe, come tell di court say dem don bring application wey dem file on April 11, 2025, to stay proceedings until judgement from Justice Azeez for ano matter. Justice Dawoodu respond say di application no dey for im court and e no understand why dem dey trouble am with di case wen di main suit dey for another court.
Omotayo Olatunbosun, counsel for di Falanas, come argue say although he collect di application late for di afternoon, di preliminary objection dey well scheduled and ready to waka. E accuse di defence say dem dey try to delay di matter and show di court one Supreme Court decision wey say courts no dey follow applications wey no dey for dia files. E urge di judge make e continue with di case.
After e don listen to all di submissions wey counsel talk, Justice Dawoodu rule say after e consider di matter, di new application wey di defence file but no dey for im file no make sense to go ahead with di case. “As a result, dis suit dey hereby struck out,” di judge talk.
Di Falanas dey demand N1 billion for damages in dis defamation suit against Otse, wey dem ask for N500 million each for damages relating to one video wey Otse post for im social media. For di video, Otse dey allege say Femi Falana demand N10 million from controversial crossdresser Idris Okuneye, wey people sabi as Bobrisky, to pervert di course of justice.
