The Ondo State Commissioner for Finance, Mrs Omowunmi Isaac, and Kunle Odide have instituted a ₦5 billion defamation suit against 35 elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over an allegedly libellous publication.
NEWSNGR reports that the claimants filed the action before the Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure following the publication of an article in a national newspaper in February 2026.
Apart from the ₦5 billion damages, Isaac and Odide are asking the court to compel the defendants to publish an apology in three national newspapers and grant other reliefs sought in the suit.
Among the defendants is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Kola Olawoye (SAN), who served during the administration of the late former governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Speaking after the case came up on Tuesday, Olawoye said he represented himself and seven other defendants, while separate lawyers appeared for the remaining parties.
He explained that the 35 defendants were APC leaders and elders from Owo Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the defendants were prepared to challenge the jurisdiction of the court and the competence of the processes filed by the claimants through a preliminary objection.
Olawoye said the claimants subsequently applied to correct defects in their court processes, an application the defendants did not oppose.
He added that Justice Yemi Fasanmi awarded N100,000 in costs to each of the 35 defendants, bringing the total cost to N3.5m, before adjourning the matter until October 8, 2026.
‘Letter Was Sent To APC Chairman’
Olawoye maintained that the dispute arose from a letter he wrote to the National Chairman of the APC concerning developments within the party in Owo.
“The crux of their action is that I wrote a letter to the national chairman of our great party, APC. The letter was couriered directly to the national chairman, which is our legal right under the law.
“The letter was not published to a third party; it was written to draw the attention of the party’s national leadership to funny developments within the APC in our local government,” he said.
The senior lawyer also disclosed that attempts had been made to resolve the disagreement outside the courtroom, but the efforts had not produced a settlement.
“As an elder of the party, you must know that I will accommodate settlement. We made moves. We talked to the authorities concerned in the state. But they feel otherwise,” Olawoye said.
He called for unity within the ruling party ahead of the next major election.
“Now that we have a big election coming up that concerns the President of this country, we must not give room for anything to disunite us, to set us apart. Our goal now, our target, is that Tinubu must win,” he added.
Claimants Allege Reputational Damage
Counsel for the claimants, Olaoluwa Imoru, said the action was based on a publication allegedly authored, signed and caused to be published by the 35 defendants on February 2, 2026.
Imoru said his clients were asking the court to declare the publication extremely defamatory, disparaging and unnecessary.
He added that the claimants were also seeking aggravated, special and general damages for the alleged harm caused to their reputations.
According to the lawyer, the publication portrayed the finance commissioner as exercising improper influence over the Ondo State Governor.
“They are saying, invariably, that this person, the commissioner, exercised a kind of authority or power over His Excellency, the governor. And that is not the case here.
“She is an appointee of the governor. She is subservient to the governor; she is answerable to the governor and not the other way around,” Imoru said.
The court adjourned the matter until October 8, 2026, for further proceedings.
