Court Awards N5 Million Against Oxlade Over Leaked S*x Tape

A N5 million damage award has been granted by Justice Olalekan Oresanya of an Ikeja High Court to the woman who sued musician Ikuforijimi Olaitan Abdulrahman, aka Oxlade, over their leaked s*x tape.

The woman, John Blessing, had sued the musician on March 15, 2022, asking for N20 million in damages and a declaration that the respondent’s (Oxlade’s) act of filming his explicit sexual acts without her knowledge or consent constituted a flagrant violation of enabling laws and a grave violation of her fundamental rights to dignity, privacy, and freedom from discrimination protected by Sections 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as well as Articles 5 and 21 of the Constitution.

In passing judgment on the case, Justice Oresanya deemed it “despicable, horrendous, distasteful, and classless” that the musician had secretly recorded himself having intercourse with John Blessing before it was posted online.

Along with warning Oxlade against repeating the offense, the judge also chastised him for disrespecting the legal system and said that his attorney had helped Oxlade desecrate the courthouse.

The Judge said: “The action and attitude of the Respondent (Oxlade), who is said to be a celebrity, is despicable, horrendous, distasteful and classless. The Respondent is admonished strongly to act with utmost circumspection in his relationship with fellow humans, especially the opposite sex. ‘what goes around comes around’. I need not say more.

“The attitude of the respondent towards the proceeding leaves much to be desired. The Respondent failed to appear in this court and the only reason given for the respondent?s absence by his former counsel was the celebrity status of the respondent which to my mind cannot be equated to that of many notable celebrity artistes in this country who have comported themselves well respectably both within and outside of this country.

“Counsel, as ministers in the temple of justice, should never encourage any party to a law suit or client in treating the temple of justice with disrespect and disdain no matter the status of the client in the society.

“Client comes and client goes, the legal profession and institution remains. It is also disturbing to note as part of the tardiness of the respondent and his counsel that this terms of settlement was filed after the Honourable Court had concluded the hearing of the matter and on the verge of delivering its Judgment on the merit fixed for January 16, 2023.”

According to the judge, if the respondent had been found guilty of “cruel violation of the privacy of the claimant via the online/internet publication of an explicit sex tape involving the claimant and the respondent on 9th February, 2022”, the court would have given exemplary and aggravated damages far bigger than the agreed settlement sum of N5 million against the respondent.

The judge ordered Oxlade to pay the claimant the N5million damages awarded against him in two installments of N2million and N3million. The judge entered the Terms of Settlement dated January 11, 2023 as the court’s judgment.

In addition, Justice Oresanya issued an order of perpetual injunction prohibiting the claimant from starting any new legal proceedings or processes relating to the events and circumstances that gave rise to the lawsuit, as well as from bringing up or bringing the issues raised in the claim on any forum or in front of any third party.