Omisore demands N4billion as damages, apologies from APC leaders 

Mouthpiece NGR reports that Former deputy governor of Osun state and All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary aspirant, Senator Iyiola Omisore has demanded N4billion damages and apology from two factional APC leader in the state.

Omisore in a letter on Tuesday by his Counsel, Barrister Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), alleged Chairman of The Osun Progressives (TOP), Mr Adebiyi Adelowo and the Secretary, Mr Rasak Salinsile of libelling him in a press statement issued by the duo on Monday.

In the separate letters to the APC  TOP Chairman and Secretary respectively, Barrister Oyewole (SAN) said 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”.

The counsel noted that the group in the statement stressed further ” 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. “

In the letters 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” Senator Omisore threatened a legal action against the TOP Chairman and Secretary of they failed to heed the request of our Client within forty-eight (48) hours of the receipt of the letters. 

“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”.

Barrister Oyewole SAN stressed, “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. 

“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.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria noted in the letters that ” the judgment by a competent court of law in Nigeria is unchallenged and stands till today, 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.”

Emphasising that the intent  of the said “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”.