Defamation: Abuja Court To Hear Bash Ali’s Case Against Sports Minister Monday

Monday, 6 December has been set aside by the Federal High Court, Abuja as the beginning of the hearing of defamation of character case instituted by the African Boxing Ambassador, Nigerian Bashiru Lawrence Ali, OON, against the country’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare.

P.M. EXPRESS reports that Ali, who is popularly called Bash Ali, is seeking damages from the Minister for defaming his character and personality in the eyes of the public for calling the World Boxing Federation (WBF) cruiserweight champion “Bash Ali is a liar and a fraud” because of the proposed Guinness World Record Boxing Championship which Bash Ali is the central figure in the project.

 The Chamber of Adebayo Shittu, former Minister of Communication, is handling the case for the boxer and is pressing some charges against Sunday Dare, which is scheduled to be heard on Monday at Court 4, Federal High Court of Nigeria in Abuja Judicial Division; near the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

With case number ‘ABJ/CS/1231/2021’, the first defendant, Sunday Dare, is charged with defamation of the character of the world boxing champion, Bashiru (Bash) Ali, OON, and the consequent loss of wages, while the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, is joined as the second defendant.

Bash Ali’s lawyer, Shittu had earlier said that taking the Minister to court “become necessary after all the tons of avenues to cajole the Minister to do the right thing to settle the matter amicably failed. P.M. EXPRESS understands that Shittu is pursuing this case on pro-bono because he (Shittu) is a great patriotic anti-corruption Nigerian, who always stands for what is right for Nigeria. He believes that no Nigerian should do what Sunday Dare has done to Bash Ali and Nigeria.

The prayers of the world Boxing Champion, Bash Ali, to the Court of Nigeria against Sunday Dare and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, are: 

a. “A Declaration that the withdrawal of the support given to the Plaintiff’s fight by the 1st Defendant despite clear and unequivocal approval of the fight by the Federal Government is wrongful, illegal, unjustifiable, mischievous, unpatriotic, unlawful, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

b. “A Declaration that the Press Conference addressed by the 1st Defendant on 20th May 2020 is mischievous, ill-motivated, defamatory of the Plaintiff and most uncharitable and unpatriotic of a Minister of
the Federal Republic.

c. “An Order directing the 1st Defendant to retract the defamatory matter published against the Plaintiff and that the retraction be conspicuously published on the front pages of 4 National Dailies viz, The Punch, The
Nation, The Nigerian Tribune and The Guardian Newspapers respectively.

d. “An Order directing the Defendants to resume their support for the Plaintiff’s Guinness World Record fight as sanctioned by the Federal Government, by making all protocol, security, consular and other logistics available to him and/or the Local Organizing Committee already set up.

e. “An Order directing the 1st defendants to pay the Plaintiff the sum of One Billion (N1,000,000,000.00) as exemplary and aggravated damages for the defamatory matter published against Plaintiff.f. “An Order that the Defendants pay to the Plaintiff the sum of Five Hundred Billion (N500,000,000,000.00) for loss of income, arising from the unlawful, malicious and/or arbitrary denial of arbitrary suspension, cancellation, and/or withdrawal of governmental approval and /or patronage.

BASH ALI’S ABRIDGED RECORD
Bash Ali is the only boxer in the entire world to win a World Boxing Title without first fighting as an amateur. He is also the only boxer to win every Cruiserweight boxing title that has ever been conceived, thus: United States Boxing Association (USBA), California; the continental North America Boxing Federation (NABF); World Boxing Council International (WBCI—twice); and the current World Boxing Federation (WBF) Champion.

Bash is the only boxer that has a World Boxing Organization—the World Boxing Federation (WBF). He is the current Champion of WBF, which he won by knocking out Terry Ray of America on September 9, 2000. Bash is the No. 1 boxer who is qualified to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. In recognition of these achievements, as well as his financial contribution towards Sports development and promotion in Nigeria, Bash was bestowed with the highest national honour ever given to a Nigerian athlete—Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON.