By: Written By Ahmed Rufa’i
The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has instituted a N3.5 billion defamation suit against the Chief Executive Officer of Winhomes Global Estate Services, Lagos, Engr. Stella Ifeoma Okengwu; media practitioner Linda Ifeoma Ikeji; and Linda Ikeji TV Limited.
The suit, filed on August 24, 2026, before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Judicial Division, is registered as Suit No. GWD/CV/264/26.
Umahi, through his legal team, commenced the action by way of a Writ of Summons and alleged that the defendants embarked on a campaign of what he described as malicious and damaging publications against him between March 2025 and March 2026.
According to the Statement of Claim, the alleged publications were made through Linda Ikeji TV and other social media platforms, including Instagram handles associated with the defendants.
The minister alleged that videos and statements published by the defendants accused him of bribery, corruption, intimidation, sexual depravity, land grabbing, sexual harassment of women, unfitness for public office and other allegations which he described as false and defamatory.
Umahi said that before resorting to litigation, he instructed his lawyers to write the defendants demanding an immediate and unreserved public apology, removal of the alleged defamatory publications and an undertaking to desist from further publication.
He alleged, however, that despite the intervention of his legal representatives, the defendants failed to comply with the demands.
In the suit, the minister is asking the court to declare that the alleged video posts and broadcasts made through the Instagram handle of the first defendant and subsequently broadcast through the second and third defendants’ platforms are false and defamatory.
He is also seeking an order compelling the defendants to retract and remove the alleged defamatory materials from their social media handles and any other platforms through which they were published.
Umahi further wants the court to direct the defendants to tender an unreserved apology to him through video broadcast and in writing on their social media platforms and any other medium used to publish the alleged defamatory materials.
The minister is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, representatives, successors, assignees and entities controlled by them from further publishing what he considers to be false and defamatory materials against him.
As part of his claims, Umahi is demanding N500 million in general damages for alleged injury to his reputation.
He is also claiming N2 billion in exemplary damages, as well as post-judgment interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum until the judgment sum is fully liquidated.
The claimant is further demanding N500 million as the cost of the suit, bringing the monetary claims to N3.5 billion.
The minister is also asking the court to grant any other orders it may deem appropriate in the circumstances of the case.
The suit was filed by a team of senior lawyers led by A. J. Owonikoko, SAN, FCArb., alongside Mahmud Magaji, SAN; Prof. J. O. Olatoke, SAN; Yakubu A. H. Ruba, SAN; Emmanuel I. Esene, SAN; Roy O. U. Nwaeze, SAN; I. I. Okim, Esq., and other counsel of Synergy Attorneys, Lagos.
As of the time of filing, the defendants had not yet been served with the court processes, according to the case summary.
The allegations contained in the suit are claims by the claimant and remain subject to determination by the court.
