Court awards N5m against ‘classless’ Oxlade

Justice OA Oresanya of a Lagos State High Court has awarded N5m damages to a singer, Ikuforijimi Abdulrahman, aka Oxlade, over a leaked explicit sex tape featuring a woman on a social media app, snapchat.

A sex tape of the singer went viral online on February 9, 2022, while the artist later apologized to his fans.

In handing down his verdict on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, the judge described the singer’s action in secretly recording the explicit sex and leaking the tape online as “despicable, abominable, distasteful and classless”.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Blessing, filed a suit in the court on March 15, 2022 seeking N20 million damages and a statement that the act of the defendant (Oxlade) to record their sexual acts without her knowledge and consent amounted to for a violation of enabling laws and a gross violation of its fundamental rights to dignity, privacy and freedom from discrimination, guaranteed under sections 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 5 of the African Charter of Human Rights and Nations (Ratification and Enforcement), Act, Chap. A9, LFN, 2004.

When the case came up, the judge was ready for judgment when counsel for the plaintiff, ET Idemudia and OS Mabekoje, with UR Michael for the defendant, announced their appearance and both sides agreed to opt for amicable settlement through a consent decree .

However, Justice Oresanya denounced the singer.

“The action and attitude of the respondent (Oxlade), who is said to be a celebrity, is despicable, abominable, distasteful and classless. The respondent is strongly urged to exercise the utmost caution in his relationships with fellow human beings, in particular with the opposite sex. What goes around comes around. That’s all I need to say,” said the judge.

Before that, Judge Oresanya accused Oxlade of disrespecting the court proceedings and accused his lawyer of helping him desecrate the temple of justice.

The judge said: “The defendant has not appeared in this court and the only reason his former counsel gave for the defendant’s absence was the celebrity status of the defendant, which in my opinion cannot be equated with that of many notable famous artists in this country who have behaved well both inside and outside this country.

“Counselors, as ministers in the temple of justice, should never encourage a party to a lawsuit or client to treat the temple of justice with contempt and contempt, regardless of the client’s status in society.”

The judge then entered the settlement terms of January 11, 2023 as a court ruling.

“Under the consent judgment, Oxlade must pay damages of N5m to the plaintiff in two installments of N2m and N3m respectively,” Oresanya added.