U.S. Court: Timipre Sylva Requested For Settlement Twice – Publisher, Pointblank News

…Says, he did not win any defamatory Case

The publisher of Pointblanknews.com, Mr. Jackson Ude has said that contrary to the tissues of lies presented to the public, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Marlin Sylvia, on the contrary, pleaded for an out of court settlement.

He said there was therefore no way that Sylva could have win any case against his medium the United States since the case has not be determined.

This was as Ude challenged Sylva to show the public a copy of the judgement he claimed to have obtained from the U.S. Court that declared him winner in a case where there was no ruling, declaring that the minister told lies from the pit of hell

These were contained in a statement on Monday by Ude in which he also described as criminal, malicious, defamatory and disparaging the claim by Sylva that he recorded victory in the United States Eastern District Court, Pennsylvania.

Ude said that the hogwash and spurious news story was being sponsored by the Minister of State, Petroleum, Timipre Marlin Sylvia, stressing that nothing can be more ridiculous than such a claim.

He said that the same Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who instituted a defamatory case against him, later turned around and requested twice for an out-of-court settlement through his attorney as well as used some leaders in Nigeria to reach out to him to accept an out of court settlement.

In the words of Ude; “In 2021, Sylva came to the U.S court and filed a lawsuit against me for defamation. The case started in February 2022. After discoveries were conducted by attorneys for both Sylva and me. Sylva appeared for deposition via zoom and was interrogated for closed to five hours in May. I was also deposed for about three hours.

“After the deposition, Sylva through his lawyers approached my lawyers for an out-of-court settlement. The first request was denied. He came back again on July 22, 2022 and made another request.

“This time, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, whom I have tremendous respect for, has been reaching out to me on behalf of Sylva, requesting I accept to settle the matter out of court.

“After going through Sylva’s requests and adjustments made by my lawyers, I accepted the request in good faith and directed my attorneys to proceed with it.

“Judge Hon. Joseph Leeson Jnr of the Eastern District court, thereafter, set up settlement conference hearing for August 11, 2022. And also set September 14, as the Jury trial date if we did not reach an agreement to settle. “I attended the hearing as ordered by the Judge while Sylva pleaded with the Judge to allow him to appear via zoom.

“At the Settlement hearing, we both went through the agreements. The Magistrate Judge, Hon. Pamela Carlos, supervised the process and both parties agreed and signed off the settlement agreement.

“No judgment was pronounced. Sylva was not pronounced winner as no trial in the case ever happened.

“In plain language, the suit did not proceed to trial or judgement stage. It was simply a settlement out of court which Sylva, not me, sought.

“It is, therefore, a violation of the Judge’s order for Sylva to sponsor defamatory, malicious and disparaging publications against my person and that of Pointblanknews.com in order to whitewash himself.

“In due course, he would return to the U.S court to explain his actions.

The amateur attempt to hoodwink the public and spread lies are some of the instrument politicians have employed to deceive Nigerians.

“Again, Timipre Sylva never won any defamatory case. How can you be a winner in a case that never went to trial? Otherwise, Sylva should show to the public a judgement he obtained from the U.S Court declaring him winner. It is pure lies from the pit of hell,” Ude stressed.