Atiku demands N500m and a written apology from Lauretta Onochie for questioning his integrity

FORMER vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has demanded N500m ($1.38m) and a written apology from President Muhammadu Buhari's aide Lauretta Onochie for questioning his integrity by claiming that he was on an international watch-list for fraud.

 

In February, Alhaji Abubakar stood against President Buhari in Nigeria's presidential elections but the results of the polls are being contested in court. Nigeria's Independent national Electoral Commission had declared President Buhari the winner but Alhaji Abubakar has taken the matter to the elections tribunal, claiming he was robbed of his mandate.

 

In the charged political atmosphere, Ms Onochie, President Buhari's special assistant on social media, said Alhaji Abubakar is unfit for office as he is on the United Arab Emirates' watch list. Incensed by the claim, Alhaji Abubakar has asked his lawyers to write to ms Onochie demanding damages and an apology for spreading lies capable of damaging his reputation.

 

In a letter addressed to Ms Onochie and signed by Alhaji Abubakar's lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, the former vice president said he was never on any watch list and challenged her to prove the allegation. He said he would sue Ms Onochie for N2bn and cyber bullying if she fails to meet his demands.

 

Mr Ozekhome's letter reads: “We have our client’s instructions to demand and we hereby demand from you the following: That you publish and tender a written retraction and apology for the said libellous publication in six national dailies circulating in Nigeria and one international daily as well as on all social media platforms wherein the said publication was made.

 

“That you pay to our client through the firm, the sum of N500,000,000 only, representing minimal damages to assuage his already battered image wholly caused by your said defamatory publication. Take notice that if you fail or refuse to accede to our modest demands within the next 48 hours from the date of this letter, we shall be compelled to activate the full weight of the legal machinery against you without any further recourse to you.

 

“We shall be, in such a suit, claiming against you the sum of N2bn, representing exemplary aggravated and punitive damages.”

 

Ms Onochie, who has been President Buhari’s aide for over three years, has been known to attack persons who criticise him. Last year, she described the Christian Association of Nigeria as of worms for saying the president had not been fair to Christians.

 

She was also exposed by Cross Check Nigeria, a coalition of 15 media houses for posting fake photographs allegedly of a Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential rally where money was packaged with food and handed over to attendees.

 

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