Tuface Slammed With N120 Million Suit By Wedding Photographer

One of the most talked about weddings in Nigeria in the last 12 months certainly has to be the wedding between Nigerian musical star innocent Idibia and Annie. We all recalled how the “who is who” in both the entertainment and political scene made an appearance. So it comes as no shocker now when we hear of people trying to swoop in to get their own piece of the pie as an Abuja based Photographer Emmanuel Okolo slammed a 120 million Naira suit against the couple for unpaid wages.

While presiding over the case yesterday, Justice Mohammed Idris of  the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has fixed  October 16, 2013 for the commencement of trial in a N120 million copyright suit

The plaintiff is asking for six reliefs, two of which include N100 million in general damages and N20million in exemplary damages.
At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, neither TuFace nor his wife was represented in court. Anifite who is the second defendant was however represented by his counsel, J.O Uttute.

During proceedings yesterday, a mild drama ensued when the judge openly admonished Uttute after the latter claimed that he had filed his defence when he had not done so.

The judge warned him not to come to this court again if he was not prepared for the case.  “You told me that you have filed your response, but looking through here, there is nothing to that effect. And you are even smiling. Do you think you are here to joke? Never come to this court again if you are not prepared. You don’t even know when the case was filed and you are not prepared for it,” said the judge.

Also, the plaintiff’s counsel, Habeeb Oredola expressed worry over the defendants’ inability to appear before the court  or  be represented by a counsel after they were served with the writs of summon.

In the writ of summon, It appears that Okolo was contracted through a third party Ms Chineze Anyaene on behalf of Mrs Idibia to take photographs of the traditional event.

The plaintiff claimed that he was initially reluctant but when convinced that it carried the blessing of the couple went ahead, he continued by saying that Annie Idibia later contacted  him after the wedding and demanded for the printing of 10 of the high resolution pictures taken.