The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has appealed the ruling of the Oyo State High Court that dismissed his N5 billion defamation and privacy violation suit against Yoruba Nation activist Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.

In the appeal, marked Suit No: M/1006/2024 and filed on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan, Adams expressed dissatisfaction with the judgement delivered by Justice O. T. Ademola-Salami on Thursday, July 3.

He argued that the judge erred in law on six key grounds and urged the appellate court to overturn the decision.

The case originated from a suit filed by Adams on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, in which he accused Igboho of unlawfully recording and publishing a private telephone conversation without his consent, a move Adams said breached his fundamental right to privacy as guaranteed under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Adams had sought the court?s declaration that secretly recording private conversations and publishing them without the consent of all parties involved was unlawful. He also sought N5 billion in damages.

However, Justice Ademola-Salami dismissed the case, ruling that the affidavit supporting Adams? claim was defective.

According to the judge, the affidavit was neither deposed to personally by Adams nor by someone lawfully authorised to do so.

Consequently, the court awarded N500,000 in costs against Adams in favour of Igboho.

Challenging that decision, Adams? legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Yusuff Olatunji Ogunrinde, maintained that the affidavit in question complied with the requirements of the Evidence Act, 2011 (as amended).

The appeal Insists that the affidavit contained sufficient facts to support the application and that the High Court erred by treating its content as hearsay.

?An affidavit does not amount to hearsay if it contains facts within the deponent?s personal knowledge or facts derived from the applicant under appropriate circumstances,? the appeal argued.

Adams also claimed that Igboho failed to adequately deny or counter the affidavit evidence, which, he said, established that Igboho released the private conversation to the public via social media.

He urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the High Court?s ruling and, invoking its powers under Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act, 2004 (as amended), to take over the matter and grant the reliefs originally sought in the 2024 suit.

The appellate court Is expected to fix a date for hearing in the coming weeks. (Daily Sun)

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