*vows to head to Court after 48hrs
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
A former Deputy Governor of Osun State and an All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary aspirant, Senator Iyiola Omisore on Tuesday, demanded N4 billion damages and apology from the Chairman and Secretary of a factional group within the APC in the state.
Counsel to Senator Omisore, Barrister Gboyega Oyewole (SAN) in a separate letters to the TOP Chairman, Mr Adebiyi Adelowo and the Secretary, Mr Rasak Salinsile alleged the TOP leaders of libelling his client in a press statement issued by them on Monday this week.
According to Barrister Oyewole (SAN), Mr Adelowo and Salinsile in a statement ” on Monday, sounded a note of warning to the APC leader who according to them, has embraced a fair-weather friend, who is carrying the albatross of complicity in the death of our leader, Chief Bola Ige’.
Barrister Oyewole stressed further in the letter that the group stated further that ” if Governor Gboyega Oyetola will not mind being an associate of an alleged murderer and sponsor of many killings in the state, we at the TOP will not join him and we are telling the whole world that we are not going to join those dancing on Uncle Bola Iges grave with his alleged killer. “
The letter dated March 22, 2022, captioned ” REQUEST FOR A RETRACTION, AN APOLOGY, AND PAYMENT OF DAMAGES FOR THE LIBELOUS PUBLICATION MADE OF AND CONCERNING THE PERSON OF SENATOR IYIOLA OMISORE IN YOUR PRESS RELEASE AND PUBLICATION DATED 21ST OF MARCH 2022 AND TITLED APC CONVENTION: AREGBESOLAS FACTION REJECTS NOMINATION OF OMISORE AS NATIONAL SECRETARY” asked the TOP Chairman and Secretary “to heed the request of our Client within forty-eight (48) hours of the receipt of the letters,
Part of the letter reads, ” We are Solicitors to Senator Iyiola Omisore, a two-term Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a former Deputy Governor of Osun State on whose instruction we write in relation to the above subject. Our instruction is that in your press release which was published in several news media outlets including Daily post of 21st of March, 2022, as Chairman and Secretary of The Osun Progressives (TOP), you made a libelous and defamatory statement of and concerning our Client, Senator Iyiola Omisore in the following terms:
” The group in a statement signed by TOP Chairman, Adelowo Adebiyi, on Monday, sounded a note of warning to the APC Leader who according to them have embraced a fair-weather friend, who is carrying the albatross of complicity in the death of our leaders, Chief Bola Ige.
” If Governor Gboyega Oyetola will not mind being an associate of an alleged murderer and sponsor of many killings in the state, we at the TOP will not join him and we are telling the whole world that we are not going to join those dancing on Uncle Bola Iges grave with his alleged killer. “
The Counsel stated, ” our client has informed us that your publication is not only false and without any factual basis but malicious in all material respect. It is by the reckoning of our Client, a deliberate attempt sponsored and/or designed to malign his image and his political stature as a leader of note in Osun State, the South-West geo-political zone and Nigeria as a whole. “
According to Barrister Oyewole SAN, ” It is important to state that the spurious allegation alleged murderer and sponsor of many killings in the state, we at the TOP will not join him and we are telling the whole world that we are not going to join those dancing on Uncle Bola Ige’s grave with his alleged killer made in your statement of 21st March, 2022 against our client is contrary to established and indisputable fact that inspite of the wrongful persecution and incarceration of our client, he calmly defended himself over a period of years and he was eventually vindicated when the High Court of Oyo State found him not guilty of all the allegations and proceeded to discharge and acquit him in relation to the alleged murder of Chief Bola Ige.
Maintaining that ” the judgment by a competent court of law in Nigeria is unchallenged and stands till today”, Barrister Oyewole stated, ” the emphasis on the alleged murderer and sponsor of many killings in the state is only a confirmation of our client’s conviction that the publication was sponsored by his political distractors.”
He pointed out that the intent of the “press release and publication is to cast unwarranted, unjustifiable and unsustainable malicious aspersion on our clients integrity in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public”,
” Our client has consequently directed us to request for a retraction of the said press release and publication and an apology to be published in two (2) major newspapers and several online news outlets not later than forty-eight (48) hours of the delivery of this letter and also the payment of the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira only) as damages for malicious publication against our client.
” TAKE NOTICE that if you fail to heed the request of our Client within forty-eight (48) hours of the receipt of this letter, we shall be constrained to proceed to the court of law against you for exemplary damages for injurious falsehood and malicious publication made of and concerning our client.
