– Court Grants Leave for Substituted Service as Legal Proceedings Begin in May 2025
Port Harcourt — A Rivers State High Court has granted Prince Tonye T.J.T Princewill permission to serve court documents through substituted means in an ongoing defamation and breach of contract suit involving Chinenye Agwumba, Kalabari TV, and two others.
The case, filed by Princewill through his counsel, Professor Richard Wokocha, stems from allegations made in a televised broadcast on Kalabari TV and social media posts accusing Prince Tonye Princewill of failing to fulfill a contract for the printing of burial brochures for his late father, King Prof. TJT Princewill.
According to Professor Richard Wokocha, the contract was awarded and paid for by the King’s burial committee, and not by Tonye Princewill personally as he was in no condition to monitor delivery.
“Mr. Agwumba did not deliver the printed materials on time and to specification,” Prof. Wokocha stated. “Despite this, he went ahead to make unfounded accusations against the person of Tonye Princewill, online and through Kalabari TV.”
Professor Wokocha also revealed that efforts to serve court papers had been repeatedly frustrated, leading the court to approve substituted service due to the respondents’ alleged attempts to evade formal service.
In a related development, the court reportedly struck out a separate suit filed by Agwumba against Princewill, describing it as procedurally defective. The case filed by Tonye Princewill is now scheduled to return to court in May, 2025.
Meanwhile, a source close to Tonye Princewill remarked that while the process may take time, the Prince is patient as the lawsuit was a clear message that reputational damage and public misinformation would not be ignored.
According to the source, “The media team behind Kalabari TV had earlier demanded a significant fee to cover the King’s burial, which the burial committee declined. The source also said though Prince Tonye wasn’t directly involved in that final decision, somehow, he became the target.”
The source further noted that despite the challenges, Tonye Princewill had encouraged the burial committee to resolve matters amicably, including his facilitating the payment of an additional sum to the printer by the committee — a gesture reportedly not acknowledged by the printer in his publications on social media and other platforms.
The source said Prince Tonye Princewill simply believes that public platforms should not be used to coerce or malign individuals without basis.”
