By Daud Olatunji

FORMER Ogun State governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, yesterday, threatened to drag former General Secretary of Afenifere, Senator Femi Okunrounmu to court for referring to him as a traitor and a double-faced military agent.

Chief Olusegun Osoba

Osoba also issued a 14-day ultimatum to Okurounmu to retract his alleged libellous statement or face been slammed with N3 billion damages.

The former Governor, in a letter sent to Okurounmu through his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, also demanded a public apology to be published on the front pages of seven consecutive editions of both the Sun and Daily Independent newspapers, starting from Monday, 29th July 2019.

The letter reads in part: “We act as solicitors to Chief Olusegun Osoba, CON, hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’, and on whose instruction we write you on the above subject, particularly in relation to the interviews recently granted by you to two leading national dailies, that is, the Daily Independent newspaper and the Saturday Sun newspaper, respectively published on Thursday, July 11, 2019, and July 20, 2019.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that the words employed by you in defaming our client (Osoba) are weighty and far-reaching. In their natural and ordinary meanings, the words present our client as representing everything negative, retrogressive and treacherous.  The innuendoes embedded in the said words are clear cut, pointing and leading to your objective of parading and presenting our client to the public as one who should be treated with disdain and contempt. Clearly, by the said interviews and subsequent publications of same, you have not only defamed our client but have also brought him to public ridicule and odium. You have virtually discounted all that our client has achieved in life and rubbished his image.

“Your action has been actuated by malice and hatred. Our client’s (Osoba) hard-earned reputation has been seriously dented and damaged, while he has also suffered considerable distress and embarrassment.

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“Since the said publications, our client has received, and continues to receive several telephone calls, text messages, letters, emails, etc., from friends, relations, associates and well-wishers from within and outside Nigeria, expressing their shock, outrage, and disappointment at their contents; further questioning our client as to the integrity which he has been known for over the years, particularly in view of the statements and assertions made by you in the said publications.

“Arising from the foregoing, we have further instruction of our client to demand from you the following:

“Directing a retraction of the said interviews granted by you and published in the Daily Independent newspaper of Thursday, July 11, 2019, and the Saturday Sun newspaper of July 20, 2019;

“Public apology to our client to be published on the front pages of seven consecutive editions of both newspapers, starting from Monday, July 29, 2019; a sum of N3 billion as damages for the said libellous publications. You are given 14 days from the date of this letter within which to comply with our client’s simple demands; otherwise, our final instruction is to commence proceedings against you, claiming reliefs in terms of the said demands, plus aggravated and exemplary damages.”

Vanguard