*Court restrains Pointblanknews.com from publishing defamatory reports on Sahara Energy*
Having instituted legal action and notified our stakeholders (including the general public) of an ongoing sustained orchestrated smear campaign against Sahara Energy Resource Limited (SERL) by Pointblanknews.com, the management of Sahara Group affirms that the latest malicious, false, and misleading report titled, “Interpol Probes Sahara Energy Transfer of over $40 billion to Isle of Man in 2016” is yet another completely fabricated article authored by PointBlankNews.com.
Pointblanknews.com published the said false story under the url below:
http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/interpol-probes-sahara-energy-transfer-of-over-40bn-to-isle-of-man-in-2016/
The above has been rehashed and reproduced by a few other online portals, mostly fringe sites that are not guided by the ideals of rigorous probity and incontrovertible facts that epitomizes good journalism.
For the avoidance of doubt, Sahara Group and SERL unequivocally state that the report is utterly false and totally baseless.
It mirrors the disingenuous outlay of previous unfounded allegations by Pointblanknews.com geared towards sustaining the smear campaign intended to tarnish the reputation of SERL, its affiliates and principals.
We had through rejoinders on our website and published by credible media organisations, clarified the fact that the allegations in previous reports in PointBalnkNews.com ongoing orchestrated sustained smear campaign are completely baseless, unfounded and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and defame SERL and Sahara Group.
Please see below links to relevant rebuttals published by SERL and Sahara Group:
https://www.sahara-group.com/2020/07/27/sahara-energy-resource-limited-decries-orchestrated-smear-campaign-by-pointblanknews-com/
https://businessday.ng/news/article/sahara-energy-institutes-legal-action-against-pointblanknews-com/
https://nairametrics.com/2020/07/17/sahara-energy-resource-limited-clarifies-false- media-report-in-pintblanknews-com/
https://www.sahara-group.com/2020/07/16/sahara-energy-resource-limited-clarifies- false-media-report-in-pointblanknews-com-2/
https://www.sahara-group.com/2020/04/21/sahara-energy-resource-limited-clarifies- false-media-report-in-pointblanknews-com/
Sahara has since instituted Suit No. LD/ADR/31572020 against Mr. Jackson Ude and pointblanknews.com, seeking (amongst others) a declaration that the article in question referred to above and all the other following publications of the Defendant are defamatory.
SERL further sought an order directing the Defendants to cease and desist from further publishing and/or disseminating the said defamatory information.
- 15th July, 2020 and captioned: “How Late Abba Kyari illegally shared $200Million from $1.099Billion Oil Bloc Money to Sahara Energy”, 23rd July, 2020 and captioned: “How Sahara Energy, AA Rano Oil sold stolen $2.5Billion Crude Oil in China, shared proceeds with Buhari’s Cabal” with the following URL:
- A tweet from the 1st Defendant’s Twitter handle dated 22nd July, 2020 and captioned “Sahara Energy & AA Rano Oil were used by Late Abba Kyari to illegally sell 48million barrels of Bonny Light crude worth $2.5billion, stolen from Nigeria and stored in tank farms in China in 2016. The money ended in private pockets, according to, documents, Details coming ” and the URL: http://twitter.com/jacksonpbn/status/1285961878267723778
Further to the above, Suit No. LD/ADR/31572020 instituted by SERL, we have received an order of Hon. Justice O.A Ogala (Mrs.) of the High Court of Lagos State dated 9th September, 2020 granting an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the Defendants, their privies, agents and/or their assigns from further publishing or causing to be published any news or any false, reckless, malicious and libelous statement against SERL, its agents, directors, representatives in any manner whatsoever pending the hearing and determination of this suit.
Please click here for details of the order.
It is imperative to note that these recent publications are not the first of their kind by way of smear campaigns against Sahara by pointblanknews.com and Mr. Jackson Ude. Sahara, had in the past instituted legal action and secured judgment against pointblanknews.com and Mr. Jackson Ude in Suit No. LD/ADR/367/2015: Sahara Energy Resources Limited vs Mr. Jackson Ude, Mr. Ben Young, Uduma Mba & Point Blank News.
Please click here for details of the judgement.
We are aware that there may be subsequent false stories in PointBlankNews.com in the ongoing sustained orchestrated smear campaign designed to discredit and defame Sahara and reiterate our advisory to members of the public as well as our stakeholders and partners across the globe to disregard previous and future pointblanknews.com reports regarding Sahara Group and its affiliates in their entirety.
Sahara Group continuously promotes transparency in business, working and supporting global stakeholders including the United Nations Private Sector Advisory Group and the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI).
We remain committed to the principles of good governance, best practice and service excellence that have successfully driven the Sahara Brand in more than two decades – across its locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
