The Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has demanded that the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Communication and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, pay N5 billion in damages for defamation and tender a public apology published in four national newspapers.
This comes after Onanuga alleged on July 20, 2024, via his X handle @aonanuga1956, that Obi’s supporters were planning mayhem in Nigeria, stressing that Obi should be held responsible for anarchy.
Onanuga had said, “Peter Obi’s supporters are planning mayhem in Nigeria, Obi should be held responsible for anarchy.”
Reacting to the allegation, Obi, through his counsel, Alex Ejesieme, said, “The allegation which went viral on social and mainstream media and read by many within and outside the country, maligned his hard-earned reputation. It dented his image as a man who indulges in violence when all his antecedents are vivid and that he abhors violence even in the face of extreme provocation.”
Ejesieme further stated, “The publication was a calculated plot to demean, ridicule, humiliate and embarrass Peter Obi by the estimation of every right-thinking member of the society. His appellation as ‘Okwute’ (the Rock) notwithstanding, 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.”
The counsel demanded that Onanuga retract the statement and tender an unreserved apology within 72 hours in not less than four national dailies, including Vanguard, THISDAY, Punch, and The Cable, as well as his verified X handle @aonanuga1956, saying, “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…”
