Abuja: Justice Peter Kekemeke of an Abuja High Court has struck out a suit filed by former boxer, Bash Ali, against former Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, the National Sports Commission, and the Attorney General of the Federation. The suit was dismissed on the grounds of being ‘statute barred’.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Justice Kekemeke, in his ruling on the preliminary objection raised by the defendant, stated that the case was invalid due to the expiration of the statutory time limit for bringing it to court. The court found no evidence indicating that the first defendant had signed a contract, and determined that the suit, filed on October 10, 2021, was outside the permissible time frame because the cause of action accrued on May 20, 2020.
Ali had sought a court order declaring the withdrawal of support given to him as illegal and requested that the first defendant retract defamatory statements published against him. He also sought an order directing the resumption of the support previously provided and demanded N500 billion for loss of income among other claims. The defendants in the case were Sunday Dare, the then Minister of Youth and Sports Development, and the Attorney General of the Federation.
Despite Ali’s attempts, his proposal to stage a Guinness World Record Boxing fight has not received full official approval across the administrations of five Presidents and five Sports Ministers, highlighting ongoing concerns about its legitimacy.
