The Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos presided over by Hon Justice Abang, in suit no FHC/CS/1054/2012, has restrained Messrs Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade, as well as other interested parties, from acting on behalf of Newswatch Communications Limited.
In a press statement signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the organisation, Femi Ige and made available to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, the court also granted an injunction restraining the said four from declaring a trade dispute in accordance with the Share Purchase Agreement.
Ruling in an application brought by the chairman of Newswatch Communications Limited, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim (OFR) and Global Media Mirror Limited, the court further restrained Ray Ekpu and three others from making any form of publication on behalf of Newswatch Communications Limited in respect of the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA).
Justice Abang directed that form 48 should be served alongside with the order, meaning that unless Ray Ekpu and the three others obey the court order, they may be committed to prison for contempt.
The court has adjourned the motion on notice for definite hearing for September 14, 2012.
Reacting to the court order, Jimoh Ibrahim, publisher and executive chairman of Newswatch Communications Limited said, “As a lawyer, the best thing to do is to call the bluff of Ray Ekpu and company by taking them to the courts and it is good that the facts and justice of the case are coming out so as to protect the integrity of the transaction and the spirit of Dele Giwa.
“Regrettably, I cannot comment on a matter before the court, as a mark of respect to the judiciary.”
Meanwhile, editors of the former Newswatch magazine have regrouped to publish a news magazine called Verbatim. A press statement from the management of the new magazine, which was signed by Tobs Agbaegbu and made available to LEADERSHIP WEEKEN,D said that the magazine would hit the newsstands? on Monday.
The statement described the magazine as a “product of the ingenuity and enterprise of an assembly of many former editors, reporters and managers of the Newswatch magazine.”
It further explained that it would be published as an investigative news magazine every fortnight by Verbatim News Network Limited, with headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital.
Verbatim, the release further said, has Tobs Agbaegbu, former senior associate editor and Newswatch bureau chief in Abuja as editor-in-chief.
It also named Anza Phillips, a former assistant editor who covered the presidency for Newswatch as executive editor. Agbaegbu and Phillips have already resigned from Newswatch .
Agbaegbu said the new magazine was meant to provide detailed, well investigated insight into contemporary national and global issues as they affect the interest of Nigerians.
He promised that the magazine would live up to its name. “We shall live up to our name. We shall report verbatim and present news as it is.
We shall also give our readers a high dose of exclusives as will be obtained from our investigative prowess.