Otti’s N5bn Suit: Ubani Invented Facebook Hacking Defence, Witness Tells Court

A witness for Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has dismissed the state’s former Commissioner for Information Don Ubani’s claim that his Facebook account used in defaming the governor was hacked.

The witness, Ferdinand Ekeoma, described the hacking claim as an afterthought during cross-examination on Tuesday in the N5bn defamation suit instituted by Otti against Ubani before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Ekeoma, the governor’s second witness, maintained that Ubani personally made the Facebook post on September 26, 2024.

In the publication, Ubani accused Otti of grabbing land belonging to widows in communities in Isialangwa South Local Government Area of the state. He also alleged that the governor acquired Comfort Hotel and Damgret Hotel in Umuahia, through proxies.

Asked whether the alleged hacking of Ubani’s Facebook account could absolve him of liability for the publication, Ekeoma said the ‘hacking of his account story was false and an afterthought.

Earlier, while being led in evidence by Otti’s counsel, Dr Sonny Ajala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ekeoma adopted his witness deposition of November 20, 2025, and tendered eight documents in support of the governor’s case.

The court admitted the documents, which included earlier Facebook publications by Ubani in which Ekeoma was tagged.

Ekeoma told the court that Ubani’s earlier posts shared the same prose, pattern and style as the publication in question, which he cited as evidence that Ubani authored it.

The suit, marked FCT/HC/CV/4474/2024, arose from a September 2024 Facebook post titled “Governor Alexander Otti Of Abia State Should Be Clapped For.”

Governor Otti had denied the allegations and described the publication as “satanic and defamatory”.

He is seeking N5bn in damages and N150m as the cost of the suit after Ubani failed to retract the publication and apologise.

The court adjourned the suit until March 1, 2027, for continuation of hearing.

In March 2026, NEWSNGR reported that a High Court of the FCT ordered Ubani to pay N50m in damages to Chief Umeh Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Abia State Attorney-General, over a separate publication.

Justice J.O.E. Adeyemi-Ajayi, in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/6777/2023, also ordered Ubani to publish a full-page apology in ThisDay and The Sun newspapers.

Kalu had sued Ubani over a June 2023 press statement titled “What a demeaning unprofessional conduct by Chief Umeh Kalu, SAN,” in which the former commissioner accused him of fraudulent conduct and questioned his moral fitness to practise law.

Ubani also described Kalu as a “tout” and a disgrace to the legal profession, among other allegations.

Kalu, who sought N500m in damages, argued that the publication damaged his reputation and exposed him to public ridicule among colleagues and associates.

The SAN said the proceeds would go to motherless babies’ homes in Abia State.