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By Madu Obi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the February 25, 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi has threatened to sue Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Communication and Strategy over the allegation that the former governor of Anambra State and his supporters are the people planning mayhem in Nigeria.
Obi's lawyer, Mr. Alex Ejesieme, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said the allegation has created an impression that his client is an anarchist who has championed the mobilization of several nationwide protests in a bitter and undemocratic bid to usurp the Federal Government possibly as restitution for his failure at the 2023 presidential elections.
He described the allegation as malicious, adding that it has the potentiality of ostracizing his client by well-meaning citizens of Nigeria.
The letter Ejesieme addressed to Onanuga read in part: "It should be stated without any form of equivocation, that our client is an elder statesman, a diplomat and an unwavering democrat. He has always tailored his affairs according to the dictates of the Nigerian law.
"Where there has been any dissatisfaction with any process or procedure, our client's first and only resort has been to invoke the appropriate legal mechanisms to ventilate his grievances.
"As a matter of fact, our client has severally urged his teeming supporters to abide by the rule of law, and to abstain from any actions which could result in a breakdown of law and order.
"He refrains from associating himself with protests and has constantly persuaded Nigerians to persevere.
Our Client has expressed dissatisfaction with certain policies and has voiced same out through constructive criticism, without malice or resentment.
"It is our client's conviction that the publication was a calculated plot to demean, ridicule, humiliate and embarrass him by the estimation of every right-thinking member of the society.
"The demeaning and scandalous publication has also caused a serious emotional injury to our client given his decades of stellar stewardship in private and public life
"Consequently, we have our client's mandate to demand that you retract the statement made in the publication and tender an unreserved apology to him within 72 hours of the receipt of this letter in not less than four national dailies to wit: Vanguard, This Day, Punch and the Cable, including your verified "X" handle - @aonanuga1956".
"Our client is also making an unequivocal demand for monetary damage of (Five Billion Naira) only for the embarrassment your defamatory publication has caused him and his family".
He warned that in the event of Onanuga's failure to meet the demands, his client shall be constrained to approach a court of competent jurisdiction and take legal action against him for defamation and libel.
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