Radio Africa Group will pay Ksh6.1 million to media personality Oga Obinna after he won a defamation case against the media company.
Taking to social media to announce his win in court, Obinna relayed that he had filed the defamation suit a year ago after a socialite went on Massawe Japanni's show on Radio Jambo and made damning allegations against him.
According to Obinna, the show host had not sought evidence for the remarks made by her guest before airing them. He added that the allegations led to him facing severe criticism on social media and in real life.
The defendants in the defamation lawsuit were Radio Africa Group, radio personality Massawe Japanni, and the socialite who made the allegations.
"So we successfully sued Radio Jambo for defamation about a year ago, and today we have won. [The socialite] has been making defamatory remarks about me, knowing we have never met," Obinna said.
"She gets invited for an interview by Masawe on her show that airs on Radio Jambo, and she goes and makes the same remarks. The host and the producers never asked for evidence but decided to air the story for Views and Likes or whatever reason."
He pointed out that he had previously worked with Massawe at QFM and Radio Africa, so it would have been easy to confirm the allegations with him before broadcasting the story, but this had not been done.
Despite the story resulting in him being called all kinds of names online and offline, and his brand reportedly being damaged, he claimed that the defendants never apologised.
Obinna added that the socialite had failed to appear in court despite being summoned and was therefore in hiding.
While delivering the ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Edward Too also issued an injunction barring the defendants from publishing similar defamatory remarks about Obinna.
Out of the Ksh6.1 million payout awarded to Obinna, Ksh5 million is to be paid in general damages.
Ksh500,000 will be paid for aggravated damages, an additional Ksh500,000 for damages in lieu of an apology and Ksh100,000 for exemplary damages.
Obinna, who has also worked as a radio presenter in several radio stations, including Kiss 100 and Nation FM, urged Kenyans to stop defaming him, or he will sue them and get money to finish building his home.
