Peter Obi, has given the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, 72 hours to apologise and pay ₦5 billion damages to him over defamation and libel or face legal action.
The Presidential Spokesperson had on July 20, 2024, in a post via his X handle, said, “Peter Ob’s supporters are the people planning mayhem in Nigeria and that Obi should be held responsible for anarchy.”
Peter Obi writing through his counsel, Alex Ejesieme, SAN, said that the allegation, which was widely published in social and mainstream media and read by many within and outside the country, maligned his hard-earned reputation as a man who indulges in violence when all his antecedents are vivid that he abhors violence even in the face of extreme provocation.
Peter Obi said the demeaning and scandalous publication also caused a severe emotional injury to him, given his decades of stellar stewardship in private and public life.
The legal counsel wrote, “It’s 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.
“Consequently, we have our client 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 4 National Dailies to wit: Vanguard, THISDAY, Punch and the Cable, including your verified X“@aonanuga1956.
“In the event of your failure to meet the demands set out above, our client shall be constrained to approach a Court of Competent jurisdiction and take legal action against you for defamation and libel.”