According to The Punch, Justice Valentine Ashi ordered the release of the books which have been in the custody of the Nigerian Customs Service.
The books were intercepted by the Nigerian customs on the strength of a court injunction which was granted on December 10, 2014. But Justice Valentine Ash set aside the order of injunction on Monday upon an application by Obasanjo, through his lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN).
Kashamu had predicated his prayer on the argument that part of the book related to the subject matter of the libel suit – a letter dated December 2, 2013 written by Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Kashamu had instituted the libel suit against Obasanjo having been dissatisfied with his being described by the former President in the letter which was widely published in the electronic and print media as a fugitive wanted for drug offences in the United States of America.
On December 8, 2014, Justice Ashi granted an ex parte application restraining Obasanjo from publishing the book pending the determination of the libel suit. But Obasanjo went ahead to present the book to the public in Lagos, an act which the court held on December 10, 2014, as contemptuous.
Following the development the court ordered security and law enforcement agencies including customs to confiscate the book anywhere it was found.
The judge in his ruling on Obasanjo’s application on Monday upheld Agabi’s argument that the order of injunction was wrongly made. Agabi had maintained that the court made the order without jurisdiction.
He said:
“The single ground of this application is that, in a case of libel, an interlocutory injunction does not lie to restrain publication in the face of a defendant pleading justification.
“The defendant (Obasanjo) is pleading justification. In paragraph 24 of our counter-affidavit, the defendant said his claim about the plaintiff is correct, true and justified from records available in the federal court of the United States.”
He said the court had “issued without jurisdiction” adding, “The moment an interlocutory is granted, the issue is prejudiced, fair hearing is prejudiced.”
He also argued that the court could only validly bar publication in a libel suit after the case of libel was proven against the defendant.
The case has been adjourned to May 25.