Nollywood actress Judy Austin has filed separate defamation lawsuits against her former husband, Emmanuel Obasi, and fellow actress Rita Edochie.
The suits were filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, with Austin announcing the legal action through her Instagram page on Tuesday.
In the cases, the actress is seeking a retraction of the alleged defamatory statements and public apologies from both defendants. She wants the apologies published on their social media platforms as well as in two national newspapers.
Austin is also asking the court to compel Edochie and Obasi to take down all allegedly defamatory content about her and issue a permanent injunction preventing them, their representatives and associates from making or publishing similar statements in the future.
In the suit against Obasi, Judy is demanding N1 billion in compensation for the alleged defamation. She is also demanding N100 million as the cost of prosecuting the case.
The Nollywood star further sought N500 million each in aggravated and exemplary damages from Obasi.
“The sum of N1, 000, 000, 000.00 (One Billion Naira) only, as general damages for defamation. An order compelling the Defendant to publish a full, unreserved retraction and apology to the Claimant in at least two (2) widely circulated National Newspapers, as well as on all her Social Media Platforms,” it reads in part.
“An Order of Perpetual Injunction restraining the Defendant, her agents, and privies from further publishing or circulating the defamatory statements against. An order directing the Defendant to take down all defamatory statements made by her against the Claimant on all her online Platforms.”
In the suit against Rita, Judy is demanding N1 billion in compensation over alleged defamation and N50 million as the cost of prosecuting the case.
This brings the total damages sought in the two cases to more than N2 billion.
Austin also captioned both posts with “Enough is enough!!!”.
The legal action stems from a long-running public feud. Obasi claimed in 2024 that Austin had denied him access to their children for a decade following her marriage to actor Yul Edochie in 2023.
Rita, who is a member of Yul’s extended family, has also been publicly critical of Austin. In 2023, she confronted the actress, telling her to “release the man you snatched,” referencing Austin’s marriage to Yul, which occurred while he was still legally married to his first wife May Edochie.
As of the time of this report, neither Rita nor Obasi have issued a public response to the lawsuit.