Fayemi slams N3bn libel suit against Fayose’s aides

Former Governor of Ekiti State and Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is claiming N3 billion as damages in a libel suit instituted against a member of Ekiti House of Assembly, Dr Samuel Omotoso; and Special Assistant on New Media and Public Communications to Governor Ayodele Fayose, Mr Lere Olayinka, over
offensive statements made against him.
The Minister’s action follows the failure of the defendants to retract
 the libellous statements and  tender public apology as demanded by
his counsel, Rafiu Oyeyemi Balogun, in a letter  dated November 19,
2016.
The Minister in the suit number 6/577/2016, filed at the High Court of
the federal Capital territory in the Abuja Judicial Division, is
seeking  among others, payment of an aggravated damages to the tune of
N3billion. (N2 billion against Lere Olayinka, the first defendant and
another N1bilion aggravated damages against Dr Omotoso, the second
defendant.)
Besides these, the plaintiff is also seeking a retraction of the
offensive statements/utterances; a public apology to be published and
aired on Ekiti State Television and Channels Television as well as
the social media.
He is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants
from publishing or making statements or utterances similar or further
libellous publications or statements or utterances against the
plaintiff.
The duo of Omotoso and Olayinka had during an EKTV live programme also
broadcast on a cable network Startimes, tagged Ejiire on July 6, 2016
alleged that Fayemi illegally took N1.5b from Ekiti treasury and gave
it to the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress
(APC),  Muhammadu Buhari, to win the 2015 presidential election.
Olayinka also said that Fayemi illegally collected N5b from Ecobank in
the name of Fountain Holdings for purported road construction. He also
alleged that Fayemi spent the state’s funds to build a private
university for himself in Ghana.
For failing to retract the offending statements and tender public
apology within the stipulated period, Fayemi’s counsel is asking the
court for reliefs compelling the defendants to pay damages for the
statements against him which had portrayed him as a “very corrupt
public office holder and fraudulent person who siphoned public funds
at the detriment of Ekiti citizens while serving as governor”.
Balogun also argued that his client was exposed to “public ridicule,
odium, opprobrium, embarrassment and unprecedented disrepute”, arguing
that the duo had done “incalculable and tremendous injury to our
client’s image and personality as an international figure”.
The plaintiff averred that having regard to the nature of the libel,
the wider publication of the offending statements and posting same on
Internet, and having done it maliciously and failure to apologise to
him when requested to do so, he is entitled to aggravated damages from
the defendants.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the case.