A Lagos High Court has dismissed a ₦1 billion defamation suit filed by popular Nollywood actress Iyabo Ojo against her colleague, Lizzy Anjorin, citing procedural errors that rendered the case invalid.
Justice Olabisi Akinlade, sitting at the Osborne Division in Ikoyi, ruled that the lawsuit was fundamentally flawed due to irregularities in the legal documents submitted. As a result, the court not only struck out the case but also ordered Ojo’s lawyer, Dr. Olabimpe Ajegbomogun, to pay ₦500,000 in legal costs to Anjorin’s counsel, Barrister Ademola Olabiyi.
The case, with suit number LD/ADR/5292/2023, revolved around claims that Anjorin defamed Ojo in a series of online posts and videos. Ojo sought ₦1 billion in damages, but Anjorin’s legal team quickly raised objections, pointing out serious breaches of court procedures.
Central to the objection was that the Statement of Compliance—Form 01—meant to confirm that pre-action steps had been taken, was unsigned. This alone, Anjorin’s counsel argued, rendered the suit incompetent under Lagos State’s Civil Procedure Rules. Additionally, the Writ of Summons reportedly failed to properly outline the reliefs being sought and did not conform to the court’s standard format.
Further scrutiny revealed that the original Writ filed was not signed at all, and the version attached to a counter-affidavit was an uncertified photocopy. A court file inspection conducted on April 2, 2024, confirmed these procedural lapses.
Ojo’s legal team defended the suit, insisting that such technicalities should not derail the pursuit of justice and argued that any errors could be corrected before trial. However, Justice Akinlade disagreed, stating that the absence of a valid, signed Writ at the point of filing was a critical defect that could not be overlooked.
According to the judge, since the Writ was unsigned at the time the case was initiated and assigned, the entire process was invalid from the start.
With the dismissal, the high-profile legal clash between the two Nollywood stars has ended—for now—on a purely procedural note rather than on the merit of the defamation claims.
