•Court adjourns hearing to June 26

Justice Ayinla Bamigbala of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria, on Tuesday, adjourned to June 26,  hearings in the N5b libel suit the Kwara ACN Governorship Candidate, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), slammed against Kwara Herald, the news daily owned by the PDP-led state government.

Belgore, who was due to enter the witness box to testify in the case, had arrived the courtroom at 9a.m. in company of leading chieftains of the party and a crowd of ACN supporters, including his running mate,  Joshua Adeyinka, and Hassan Atanda of the Emirate Vision.

The libel suit followed a front-page news story in the Sunday Herald of April 17, 2011, titled: "Kwara guber polls: Tinubu invests N7.5b on Belgore." The story alleged , among other things, that Belgore signed a bond with the ACN National Leader,  Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to be given N7.5billion to prosecute his governorship election campaign in return for patronage and redemption of the loan.

A section of the paper Belgore considered libellous include: "In his determinant to win the coming gubernatorial election, the ACN candidate for the governorship election, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), has reportedly signed a bond of 7.5b with the ACN sole financier Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Sources close to the ACN leader revealed over the weekend that Tinubu allegedly offered to provide massive funding for the prosecution of the campaign ….

"Following the loss ACN suffered in Kwara last week, Belgore allegedly left Ilorin for Abuja where he reportedly declared that he had exhausted his financial resources on the National Assembly election. He allegedly told ACN chieftains who were in Abuja to work out alliances with CPC and that he would need a massive financial support if ACN must win the guber race in Kwara. at a meeting with Tinubu. Later, Belgore was allegedly promised a whopping 7.5b to deliver Kwara. The money allegedly came in the form of a bond which Belgore reportedly needed to sign."

The matter was slated for trial Tuesday, May 15. The judge came to the courtroom but later told counsel to both parties that he had an official Bar event to attend. Although he offered to resume hearing in the afternoon, but counsel to Belgore,  Babajide Ogundipe, said he was returning to Abuja Tuesday afternoon to appear for a case  on Wednesday.

Kwara Herald was represented by Wahab Bamidele. Both parties had filed their pleadings and issues for determination before the court, paving the way for full trial.