Sues Archives - Citybuzz News

Onitsha Trader Sues NAFDAC, Demands N15m Over Shop Invasion

June 6, 2025 by admin

A female clothing dealer at Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, Sophie Okoye, has filed a legal suit against the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and its Director-General, at the Federal High Court, Awka. Okoye claimed that her store, which deals exclusively in clothing, watches, and fashion accessories, with no connection whatsoever to pharmaceutical trade, nevertheless, was targeted in a sweeping enforcement allegedly executed by a joint task force acting under NAFDAC’s authority. The aggrieved trader filed the suit following the expiration of the statutory period outlined in the pre-action notice served on NAFDAC. According to the court documents obtained by our correspondent, on Friday, the matter is between Sophie Eberechukwu Okoye as plaintiff and NAFDAC and its DG as defendants in the Suit No. FHC/AWK/CS/162/25, filed at the Federal High Court, Awka. In the suit, the aggrieved trader is suing the regulatory agency for unlawfully breaking into her shop and/or carting away her goods valued at over N15 million, saying that her items are not affiliated whatsoever with drugs, food, or chemicals. Among other declarations by the plaintiff include: “That the defendants have no power in the administration, management, and control of food and drugs to oppressively, unlawfully and unconstitutionally break into the shop of the plaintiff looted/carted away the plaintiff’s items that are not affiliated whatsoever with drugs, food or chemicals. “That the defendant’s unlawful seizure and/or carting away of the plaintiff’s goods as listed with their value and quantity, is not only oppressive, unreasonable, but also unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional. “An order of the honourable court directing the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the sum of N15,746.00 being the monetary value of the items carted away from the plaintiff’s shop by the defendants.” Speaking on the development, the counsel for the plaintiff, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the suit was filed following the expiration of the statutory period outlined in the pre-action notice served on NAFDAC. Ejiofor stated that once this mandatory notice period had elapsed, legal action against the regulatory agency would be promptly initiated. He said, “In every just and democratic society, the rule of law is sacrosanct. “No agency, regardless of its mandate, has the right to operate beyond the legal boundaries that define its existence. “The recent developments at Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, are a shameful testament to the dangers of institutional overreach and the betrayal of fundamental legal principles. “The now widely circulated footage of Sophie Okoye, a young trader reduced to tears after her shop was unlawfully broken into and looted, has shocked the conscience of the nation. “Her store, which deals exclusively in clothing, watches, and fashion accessories, has no connection whatsoever to the pharmaceutical trade. “Nevertheless, it was targeted in a sweeping operation allegedly executed by a joint task force acting under NAFDAC’s authority.” He, however, called on both the Federal Government and the Government of Anambra State to immediately constitute an independent investigative panel, which must audit the entire operation, identify all those responsible, and ensure they are brought to justice. “While we unequivocally support NAFDAC’s statutory mandate to rid markets of counterfeit and substandard drugs, no mission, however noble, can justify the trampling of innocent citizens’ rights or the destruction of lawful businesses.” Ejiofor stated that justice must never become collateral damage. He vowed that neither he nor his client would be silenced or back down. “Justice must be done and must be seen to be done,” Ejiofor added. Punch

Natasha Sues Akpabio For Defamation, Demands N100.3bn Damages

February 25, 2025 by admin

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has filed a lawsuit against the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for alleged defamation. The PUNCH reports that Akpoti-Uduaghan raised concerns after her Senate seat was reassigned following a reshuffle triggered by opposition members switching to the majority wing. She resisted the relocation, leading to a confrontation between her and the Senate President. However, in a suit filed before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on 25 February 2025, the President of the Senate, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President, Mfon Patrick, were listed as the second and third defendants. In the suit, marked CV/737/25, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, alleged that defamatory statements were made by the Senate President and published by his aide on Facebook. According to him, the post, titled “Is the Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s Birthright?” included a statement suggesting that Akpoti-Uduaghan believed being a lawmaker was only about “pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.” Giwa argued that the statement was defamatory, provocative, and disparaging, lowering his client’s dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and the public. He stated, “A DECLARATION that the words, ‘It is bottled anger by the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers,’ used and written by the third defendant at the prompting of the first and second defendants, is defamatory and intended to cause public opprobrium and disaffection toward the claimant.” She also urged the court to restrain the defendants and their associates from making further defamatory statements against her on any platform. “AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the defendants, whether acting by themselves or through their agents, privies, assigns, or associates, from further publishing or causing to be published the said defamatory words or any similar publications about the claimant on social media or in any other manner capable of defaming her,” she stated. Furthermore, Akpoti-Uduaghan asked the court to order the defendants to pay her N100 billion in general damages and N300 million as litigation costs. “An order for the payment of the sum of N100,000,000,000 as general damages. An order for the payment of the sum of N300,000,000 as the cost of action,” she prayed. Punch

US Woman Sues IVF Clinic After Giving Birth To Another Couple’s Baby

February 20, 2025 by admin

A 38-year-old American woman has filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic after the wrong embryo was implanted in her, causing her to give birth to a child that was not biologically hers. She later had to surrender the baby to its rightful parents. Krystena Murray, from Savannah, Georgia, turned to in vitro fertilisation to fulfil her dream of becoming a mother, using a sperm donor to conceive. In December 2023, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy—but immediately knew something was wrong. The child was Black, while both she and the donor were white. Ms Murray said she contacted the clinic, Coastal Fertility Specialists, and discovered that doctors had implanted another patient’s embryo in her instead of her own. She said the baby’s biological parents were notified, and they demanded custody. According to the New York Times on Wednesday, Murray contacted Coastal Fertility Specialists, the clinic where she had undergone IVF treatment, and soon learned that doctors had mistakenly implanted another patient’s embryo into her. The clinic then notified the baby’s biological parents, who demanded custody. Ms Murray voluntarily gave up custody of the five-month-old boy to avoid a legal battle, describing the situation as having left her “emotionally and physically broken.” She said: “My child was ultimately taken from me as the clinic had implanted an embryo from a stranger into my womb. I’ve never felt so violated.” After handing the child over in court, she told Sky’s US partner network NBC News: “I walked in as a mum with a child — a baby who loved me, was mine, and was attached to me — and I walked out of the building with an empty stroller, while they left with my son.” Ms Murray’s lawsuit, filed in a Georgia court, states that the clinic’s “extreme and outrageous” mistake forced her into becoming “an unwitting surrogate, against her will, for another couple.” She said: “The situation has left me emotionally and physically broken. I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw no difference — it felt the same as if he were my own genetic embryo.” Coastal Fertility Specialists, which runs an IVF clinic in Savannah and four others in neighbouring South Carolina, described the incident in a statement to NBC News as an “isolated event.” The clinic apologised for “an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up.” The clinic added: “We are doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident.” Murray said she had no reason to suspect anything was wrong when she began treatment in early 2023. She underwent injections to stimulate egg production, which were later retrieved and fertilised in a lab using donor sperm. The wedding photographer said she became pregnant on her second embryo implantation attempt, unaware it was not her own embryo. She added: “I considered the risks of IVF going in. Never once did I consider that I might birth someone else’s child and have them taken from me.” Punch

Onitsha Trader Sues NAFDAC, Demands N15m Over Shop Invasion

Natasha Sues Akpabio For Defamation, Demands N100.3bn Damages

US Woman Sues IVF Clinic After Giving Birth To Another Couple’s Baby

Stay Informed. Stay Ahead

Get the Morning Briefing

LEGAL

SECTIONS