Alleged defamation: Atiku demands N500m, apology from Buhari’s aide

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February election, Atiku Abubakar, has demanded N500m and a written apology from an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media, Lauretta Onochie, for allegedly spreading lies capable of damaging his reputation.

The former Vice-President said Onochie’s post in her Twitter handle, which read, ‘Atiku on UAE watch list-Security Sources,’ was ill-motivated and designed to instigate security agents against him across the world.

Atiku in a letter addressed to Onochie by his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), stated that he was never on any such list and challenged Onochie to prove her allegation.

He threatened to sue Onochie for N2bn and cyberbullying if she failed to meet his demands.

The letter partly read, “Our client categorically denies each and every allegation contained in the said publication which is a figment of your imagination. Our client states most emphatically that the entire opprobrious and denigrating story above referred to is most misleading, baseless, false, malicious and totally bereft of any foundation howsoever.

“We hereby state most emphatically that the inference and grave conclusions made by you in the obviously politically-orchestrated story were invented by you and others of your ilk solely to cause maximum damage to the high reputation of our client, who is currently before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal against your employer and boss, President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Ozekhome contended that Atiku had never been denied entry into the UAE or interrogated by the country’s authorities, adding that his client had also not been declared wanted by the UAE authorities contrary to the “derogatory, disparaging, mendacious and unrestrained defamatory statement,” by Onochie.

The letter claimed the publication had also caused Atiku “unspeakable odium, obloquy, hatred, ridicule and psychological trauma” while he had also been subjected to the shame and infamy of being viewed as a terrorist and sponsor of terrorism.

– Punch