Legal Question in Personal Injury in Nigeria

I was convicted in the US 9yrs ago in 2002 for wire fraud and sentenced to 24months.I have since rehabilitated and built a successful business in Nigeria.a newspaper house ran a libelous publication against me unrelated to my conviction and I sued.they have since filed a defence of justification sighting my conviction which is totally unrelated to what they published about me.I know that in the UK which our law derives from there is a position on spent convictions of 2yrs and below, what is the Nigerian legal position on this and how can I counter the use of the conviction?


Asked on 2/13/11, 2:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Chukwuyere Izuogu

Depending on what has been published about you, a defence of justification in Nigeria would be complete defence against libel/defamation where the newspaper is able to prove that what has BEEN PUBLISHED ABOUT YOU is substantially true, however it is impossible to be able to determine the strenght of your case until all the facts are known but according to what you have just presented, as long as your previous conviction is not core of the libellous publication I don't see how they can successfully plead a defence of justification by showing evidence of your earlier conviction.

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Answered on 4/06/11, 9:40 am


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