The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi has demanded from the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, the retraction of his wild allegation, linking him as behind the planned mass protest being planned for August.
Obi, writing through his counsel, Alex Ejesieme, SAN of the MADIBA Chambers, said that the allegation which was widely published in social and mainstream media 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.
“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 in not less than 4 National Dailies to wit: Vanguard, This Day, Punch and the Cable, including your verified ‘X’ handle ‘@aonanuga1956’.
“Our Client also is making an unequivocal demand for monetary damage of N5,000,000,000 (Five Billion Naira) only for the embarrassment your defamatory publication has caused him and his family,” the letter read.
Recall, Onanuga, without evidence, claimed that the protest, promoted on social media with hashtags such as ‘EndBadGovernance’ and ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ is an attempt to destabilizlse Nigeria due to Obi’s loss in the last presidential election.
According to the presidential aide, the protest organisers are the same individuals involved in the 2020 ENDSARS protests, which were infiltrated by separatist elements.
Onanuga further warned that the planned demonstrations could lead to anarchy and said the former Anambra governor should be held accountable for any resulting crisis
Obi has vehemently denied the allegations as false and malicious.