NVS Privacy Policy

**Robot** · Apr 23, 2010 , 12:18 PM

...Read the full article.

**ozodiosuji** · Oct 20, 2011 , 11:22 AM

Date: October 20, 2011

To: The Editor, Nigerian Village Square

From: Ozodi Thomas Osuji, PhD ozodiosuji@gmail.com

Subject: Libelous article about me that must be removed from the village square.

A friend Googled my name and said that an article saying that Ozodi Osuji is a schizophrenic came up:

"Ozodi Osuji's Schizophrenic Critique of Achebe - Nigerian ...Introduction. Mr. Ozodi Thomas Osuji wrote an article titled "False Sense of Victimization in Achebe's Worldview", which was published on the Nigerian ...www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/.../ozodi-osujis...achebe.html - Cached."

I googled and the same article was at the top of what came up. Apparently, not only was it posted at the Nigerian Village square it was done in such a manner that anyone who goggled my name would have it as the first material about me that came up. Obviously, this was done with deliberate intention and malice. I am not aware that a psychiatrist evaluated me and found me to be a schizophrenic. Therefore, whoever wrote the article misrepresented me. You must therefore remove the said offensive article immediately and advise me that you have done so. Please remember that this is an actionable material; it is a material that calls for law suit, for libel. I would rather not go there so just remove the material and advise me that you have done so. Failure to do so would require my taking legal action to not only have you remove it but pay whatever damages a law court would deem right for willfully misrepresenting my person. I am sure that that you see yourself as a reputable publisher and, as such, must make sure that you publish verified material. A publisher who publishes irresponsible material about folks calls for legal action to be taken against him. This article willfully and deliberately set out to misrepresent my person and therefore is irresponsible and calumnious. I understand that Nigerians tend to feel free to say whatever they want to say about without checking for facts but since you are a publisher you must ascertain that someone is a schizophrenic before you publish material saying that he is. Please remove the said article and advise me that you have done so. You have 72 hours to advise me that you have done so. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ozodi Thomas Osuji, PhD

**DeepThought** · Oct 22, 2011 , 02:20 AM

Its alway amuses and amazes me that the people who dish out a particular medicine are usually unable to take it when given to them.

I'm not a lawyer and I don't know what the law says on this but why start out threatening the NVS?

If you feel misrepresented, if you feel you've been inaccurately described or slandered, wouldn't it be better to simply state that fact, request that the material be immediately taken down without uttering any threats, wait a bit and if it is not taken down, then you can go ahead and threaten fire and brimestone?. If you take this approach, it is likely that you would have have a much stronger case rather than just starting out right off the bat with threats and allegations that you may not even be able to substatiate.

If you say malice is involved, it becomes easy for you to prove if you first call the attention of NVS to the article and give them a chance to remove the article, but if you don't do that, it becomes hard to convince anyone malice is involved

Anyway, it is still amusing to a person like me that you are now decrying this kind of language when it is being applied to you, when you are quite generous in applying similar language to entire groups of people, and an entire race.

**Enyi** · Oct 23, 2011 , 12:35 AM

This is an interesting development. I am not a lawyer and so can give any legal opinion on this. I expect the Admin to do what is right. In his complaint he states inter alia:

I am not aware that a psychiatrist evaluated me and found me to be a schizophrenic.

Why does he not subject himeself to a psychiatric evaluation and let us know the result? In this way, he can strengthen his case.

However, I find it curious that somebody who has dderide others on many occasions is now complaining? I shall refer Osuji to this statement:

Achebe�s tendency to blame white folks for Africans problems tells me that he is infantile in his psychological make-up. He does not have what it takes to fix Africa�s problems
This was written by one Ozodi Thomas Osuji in an article entitle:As Long As Africans Blame Other Persons For Their Fate They Cannot Improve That Fate (NVS, July 24, 2011).

He felt comfortable referring to somebody old enough to be his father as infantile, just because he holds a dissenting opinion. Did Osuji provide any evidence that a psychiatrist issued such a report? My advice to him is simple: Give honor to whom honor is due for honor is reciprocal.
I shall end by

**Uncle Sam** · Oct 23, 2011 , 02:00 AM

Thomas Osuji might be a psychologist but obviously he is stupid when it comes to lawyering. Let him scream all he wants. NVS owes him no apology and NVS owes him no obligation to remove any written article.

I thought this dude was smart. He is obviously smart in psychology but dumb in legal issues.

NVS, please do not moamar gaddaffi thomas, he will learn sooner or later.

**DeepThought** · Oct 23, 2011 , 03:11 AM

My opinion is that in a case like this, if a person requests that an article specifically mentioning him by name be removed, the NVS should honor such a request, not necessarily out of fear or anything like that, but out of courtesy and decency.

The personality of the person doing the requesting should be irrelevant

NVS can take the moral high ground and leave the mudslinging to people like us who enjoy doing that (em...em....only once in a while O.)

Anyway....

**Enyi** · Oct 23, 2011 , 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by DeepThought

My opinion is that in a case like this, if a person requests that an article specifically mentioning him by name be removed, the NVS should honor such a request, not necessarily out of fear or anything like that, but out of courtesy and decency.

The personality of the person doing the requesting should be irrelevant

NVS can take the moral high ground and leave the mudslinging to people like us who enjoy doing that (em...em....only once in a while O.)

Anyway....

Sorry, I disagree with you on this. The article was a response to Osuji's article. How can a response be made without mentioning his name? The author merely stated his opinion on Osuji's article and probably went further to do a psychoanalysis. I do not know whether he is right or wrong in the latter but Osuji can help us out by doing the obvious. Most NVS readers do not know him personally.

**DeepThought** · Oct 23, 2011 , 08:07 PM

Enyi,
You do have a point. There are so, so many principles at work here , none of which is absolute.....and its a question of weighing them and deciding which is more important.

There is the principle of freedom of speech, there is the principle of not succumbing to threats and blackmail, there is the principle of adhering to one's own policies of not publishing what may be construed as flaming, there is the principle of decency in honoring a request made by anyone who feels an article maligns him/her. For me, this last principle is the most important and trumps all the rest (when it comes to most ordinary individuals) I will touch on the exception latter.

We can't see things in the same way, but if it were up to me, I would honor the request even though it is made in a very immature manner.

Exception:
Now this last bit will sound strange or unfair: If Osuji were say a politician or public figure, I wouldn't feel the same way. The other principle becomes far more important and would outweigh any consideration to the individual . Not only would I then ignore him, but I would actually publish more of such articles with the hopes that he would go to court.

Its a bit like publishing an article accusing say Obasanjo of corruption and then the man gets up to say he wants to to to court. ....... Ojigbijigbi..........make my day.

Anyway....

**Enyi** · Oct 23, 2011 , 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by DeepThought

Enyi,
You do have a point. There are so, so many principles at work here , none of which is absolute.....and its a question of weighing them and deciding which is more important.

There is the principle of freedom of speech, there is the principle of not succumbing to threats and blackmail, there is the principle of adhering to one's own policies of not publishing what may be construed as flaming, there is the principle of decency in honoring a request made by anyone who feels an article maligns him/her. For me, this last principle is the most important and trumps all the rest (when it comes to most ordinary individuals) I will touch on the exception latter.

We can't see things in the same way, but if it were up to me, I would honor the request even though it is made in a very immature manner.

Exception:
Now this last bit will sound strange or unfair: If Osuji were say a politician or public figure, I wouldn't feel the same way. The other principle becomes far more important and would outweigh any consideration to the individual . Not only would I then ignore him, but I would actually publish more of such articles with the hopes that he would go to court.

Its a bit like publishing an article accusing say Obasanjo of corruption and then the man gets up to say he wants to to to court. ....... Ojigbijigbi..........make my day.

Anyway....

I appreciate your position. However, this will teach Osuji a simple lesson- He does not need to insult people in order to make a point. How dared he refer to Achebe as infantile? Let's even ignore Achebe's achievements. He is old enough to be Osuji's father. The fact that Osuji does not like Achebe's works does not make the latter infantile. Did he furnish any psychiatric report ? No! The author has the right to do the type of psychoanalysis which he Osuji did on Achebe. If he is convinced that the author is wrong, let him furnish us with evidence.