Mr Olufemi Odubiyi, former Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos State, has given Chief Olabode George a seven-day ultimatum to retract a defamatory comments made against him or be sued.
Odubiyi also said that Chief George, a former Deputy National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), must also tendered an unreserved apology and published same on the cover pages of three prescribed national dailies.
He stated this through his lawyer, Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, in a letter addressed to George dated March 17 and copies made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
In another letter written to the Managing Director/CEO, Arise Media Group, Akintunde threatened to slam a N1 billion suit against the media house and George as damages for the defamatory comments if they fail to comply with the demand.
The lawyer alleged that the PDP chieftain, in an interview on Arise TV on March 10, accused Odubiyi of being a mole planted in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC) to subvert the will of the Nigerian electorate in the Feb. 25 presidential election.
The lawyer said his statements meant that his client was criminally minded and had been involved in criminal activities such as election rigging.
“In their natural and ordinary meaning, your said words meant and were understood to mean that our client is an enemy of democracy; an election rigger.
“He is a dishonest, disgraceful and corrupt person lacking integrity; that our client has sold and compromised his integrity as an IT professional.
“And that he has the capacity to commit further election manipulation of results in the governorship and house of assembly elections,” he said in the two letters.
Akintunde said contrary to George’s remarks, Odubiyi was never INEC’s head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Department.
He also said he was not responsible for the hitches with INEC’s computers during the presidential poll which resulted in the commission’s inability to transmit results electronically.
The senior lawyer, who corrected the erroneous assumption that Odubiyi was commissioner for Science and Technology during Tinubu’s administration, said his client was commissioner between October 2015 and January 2018.
He described Odubiyi as “a right standing and reputable member of the society and a well-meaning citizens of Nigeria with numerous years of experience locally and internationally as an IT expert without any blemish.”
He said he also served meritoriously as Lagos State commissioner.
According to him, our client’s reputation has been seriously injured and has suffered considerable distress, anxiety and embarrassment including threats to his person and that of his family members.
In a letter to George, he said: “Our client’s instructions are therefore to demand from you the following:
“Within seven days of the receipt of this letter, you personally retract live on Arise News and Arise News YouTube channel all the defamatory words/statements made against our client.
“And tender an unreserved apology to our client for the damage to his reputation.”
He said the retraction and unreserved apology must be broadcast no less than five times on Arise News and Arise News YouTube Channel within this seven-day ultimatum.
He also demanded from the media station a retraction and unreserved apology “on the cover page of ThisDay Newspaper in no less than three issues within the seven-day ultimatum.”
He said all the defamatory broadcasts and comments made by George be deleted from the TV station YouTube channel and any other platform under its control.
He asked them to give an undertaking in writing to desist from broadcasting or further broadcasting the defamatory statements or similar statements concerning his client in future.
He said failure to comply and provide them with proof of compliance within seven days of the receipt of the letter would lead to commencement of legal action against them for monetary damages in the sum of N1 billion.
It would be recalled that INEC had, on March 14, denied the claim by George that Odubiyi was the commission’s director of ICT Department.
According to INEC, there’s no iota of truth in George’s claim as no member of its ICT staff or personnel across its state offices bears the name “Femi Odubiyi” as referred to by the PDP chieftain.
