The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) and its General Overseer, Dr. Daniel Olukoya, have dragged online publication Sahara Reporters and its publisher, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, to a court in the United States of America (US) for alleged defamation and ancilliary torts.
The plaintiffs approached the United States District Court for the District of Maryland to demand sanctions against the online publication and its proprietor for defaming them in several online publications.
The suit bearing Case No. 8:18-cv-02922, which will be heard by Judge Theodore D. Chuang, has Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya; Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Inc., a Nevada Corporation (MFM Nevada), and Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Bowie, Maryland, a Maryland Corporation (MFM Bowie) as plaintiffs.
In the complaint and demand for jury trial commencing the case, the plaintiff’s lawyers emphasised that the action arose from the defendants’ unrelenting campaign to defame Olukoya and MFM, saying that the defendants’ alleged malice stemmed from a disagreement between MFM and Sahara Reporters dating back to January, 2013.
Recalling a publication by Sahara Reporters on September 27, 2017 entitled Former Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministries Pastors Accuse General Overseer Olukoya of Illegal Importation of Goods in US Property Dispute, the plaintiffs’ lawyers recalled that the matter was dragged to the court during which witnesses for MFM disproved allegations of tax evasion, but Sahara Reporters again failed to report on the fact that the tax evasion issues had been rebuffed.
In a 49-paragraph complaint, the plaintiffs stated their three causes of action as defamation, defamation per se and false light.
They therefore demanded:
.An award against all defendants to compensate for all economic damages sustained as a result of their tortious conduct.
.An award against all defendants to compensate for all presumed and actual reputational damage.
.An award against all defendants to compensate for all presumed an actual damages resulting from mental anguish and emotional distress.
.An award against all defendants of punitive damages; Attorney’s fees and costs;
Injunctive relief, including but not limited to the removal of the false and defamatory materials from any website over which defendants have control.
.Any and all other relief that the Court deems just and proper.
The case is expected to be a Jury trial as demanded by the Plaintiffs.
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