Alleged Defamation: Atiku Storms Court As Buhari’s Aide Fails To Pay N500m, Apologise
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is set to sue an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social media, Lauretta Onochie, for over N2bn as she has failed to apologise and pay him the sum of N500m after allegedly defaming his character.
Atiku’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), revealed this to our correspondent during an interview on Tuesday evening.
Ozekhome said the 48 hours given to Onochie to settle the matter out of court had lapsed.
He further stated that instead of paying the N500m and writing an apology as demanded by Atiku, the President’s aide went ahead to insult the former Vice-President again on social media.
The senior advocate said, “Of course, we are going to court because she has even aggravated the issue. She posted another comment online abusing Atiku saying that he was talking nonsense. She seems not to understand the gravity of what she has done.
“She has aggravated the matter. We shall meet in court and we practise a constitutional democracy and we are a society governed by laws. We are preparing to go to court. In my chambers, we don’t threaten people for the fun of it.
“When we say we will go to court if a demand is not meant, we stand by our words. We may even increase the lawsuit above N2bn because she has aggravated the matter.”
Atiku, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, had on Sunday written a letter to Onochie accusing her of character defamation for saying on Twitter that Atiku was on a security watch list in the United Arab Emirates.
The former Vice-President subsequently asked her to publish a written apology in six national dailies and pay the sum of N500m or meet him in court where he would sue her for N2bn.
However, Onochie said on her Facebook page the next day that Atiku was a depressed man who was trying to distract her.
Attempts to reach her for comment on Tuesday proved abortive as her phone rang out.
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