- Demands N100m Compensation Fee
By Abiola Olawale
A renowned scholar and director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, Prof. Nduka Otiono, has initiated a lawsuit against Mrs Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, wife of late renowned human rights activist, Innocent Chukwuma, over an alleged breach of contract.
The lawsuit marked LD/10395GCMW/2023 was filed before the Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).
In the lawsuit, Otiono is seeking an order compelling Effah-Chukwuma to pay the sum of N100 million as compensation for damages over an unpublished biography titled “Possibilities Unlimited – A Biography of late Innocent Chukwuma.”
Joined as the second defendant is the Pan-Atlantic University. The claimant, through his lawyer, Chief Uche Ihediwa (SAN), is praying for a declaration that the defendants breached the terms of the contract when they failed to approve the manuscript within 30 days by March 14, 2023.
He urged the court to declare the defendants’ letter of May 8, 2023, purporting to terminate the contract as illegal, null and void.
When the matter came up in court, Ihediwa, a former Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, appeared for the claimant while Uche Ego-Osuala, a prominent lawyer, appeared for the defendants.
The presiding judge, Justice Olabisi Ogungbesan, then adjourned till June 28 to enable the defendants to respond to the processes and to hear the preliminary objections.
In the lawsuit, Otiono claimed that around mid-2021, the first defendant (and representatives of the Ford Foundation, West Africa) offered him a ghost-writing job. The claimant averred that on or about November 2021, he agreed to write the biography.
The task, he said, involved the engagement of assistants, extensive travel within and outside Nigeria, research, and analysis of materials on late Chukwuma’s life and times, reviewing the work of the deceased, conducting several interviews, identification of contributions to civil society, criminal justice reform, youth and women rights, among others.
The claimant averred that the Ford Foundation provided funding through the defendants.. Otiono said it was agreed he would be paid $37,779.00.
He was paid $26,445.3 (70 per cent), with the balance of $11,333.7 (30 per cent) to be paid “within 30 days of the accomplishment of the project”. The claimant further stated that he submitted the manuscript on February 7, 2022. The defendants reviewed it in 27 days and returned it with their comments.
Otiono averred that he revised the original manuscript incorporating relevant views and returned the completed work on March 14, 2022.
The claimant stated that by the terms of reference, the first defendant had 30 days from March 14, 2023, to review the revised manuscript. According to him, it was also agreed that after 30 days from March 14, the claimant would be entitled to his balance.
The claimant averred that after the expiration of the time limit for a review of the draft, the defendants sent a May 8, 2023 letter purportedly terminating the contract.
The defendants alleged that the claimant breached the terms of reference by making a Facebook post celebrating the late Chukwuma on the second anniversary of his demise.
Otiono maintained that the alleged termination was of no effect because as of May 8, 2023, the reviewed manuscript had been with the defendants for about 55 days.
The claimant contended that details of the Facebook post cited by the first defendant did not contain confidential information except what was already public knowledge.
He further stated that sometime in May 2023, the defendants unveiled the cover of the book. The claimant contended that the proposed publication would violate his intellectual property and moral and inalienable rights as the author.
Otiono averred that the extended time and extensive work on the biography project and the subsequent failure to publish it as agreed caused him untold hardship.
The situation, he said, denied him the time and concentration to work on other assignments, and inflicted irreparable damage to his professional reputation. According to him, he effectively breached the trust of the scores of people who generously gave their time for interviews believing his promise that the book would be published.
The claimant stated that when his efforts at settlement were rejected, and the defendants also refused to pay the outstanding $11,337.7, he engaged the services of lawyers at a cost of N10,500,000.00 to ventilate his claim.
The claimant is praying for: “a declaration that he had completed the biography by the terms of reference;
“A declaration that the defendants, their servants, privies, or anyone hired by them are not entitled to use any material and or writing by the claimant to publish a biography of late Innocent Chukwuma;
“A declaration that the claimant’s Facebook post of April 4, 2023, did not amount to a breach of Clause 8 of the Terms of Reference.”
The claimant further sought a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants or their agents from plagiarising or reproducing his literary work or manuscript or any part of it in any material form without his written consent. Otiono also prayed for N100 million as special and general damages.
