Onyekachi Eze 
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has given the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Communication and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, 72 hours to retract the defamatory statement he made against him, and tender unreserved apology in four national dailies.
Onanuga had alleged on his verified X handle “@ aonanuga1956”, last week, that Peter Obi’s supporters were the people planning mayhem in Nigeria. He also said Obi should be held responsible for anarchy for the planned nationwide protest against bad governance in the country.
But the former Governor of Anambra State in a letter dated July 22 by his lawyer, Alex Ejesieme (SAN) and addressed to Onanuga, said the import of the statement was that he “is an anarchist who whilst working in consonance with terrorist groups, has championed the mobilisation of several nationwide protests in a bitter and undemocratic bid to usurp the Federal Government possibly as restitution for failure at the 2023 presidential elections.”
He denied the allegation in its entirety, describing it as malicious, and said it has the potentiality of an ostracisation of him by well-meaning citizens of Nigeria.
The former presidential candidate said as an elder statesman, a diplomat and an unwavering democrat, he has always tailored his affairs according to the dictates of the Nigerian law.
Part of the letter read thus: “Where there has been any dissatisfaction with any process or procedure, our client’s first and only resort has been to invoke the appropriate legal mechanisms to ventilate his grievances.
“As a matter of fact, our client has severally urged his teeming supporters to abide by the rule of law, and to abstain from any actions which could result in a breakdown of law and order.
“He refrains from associating himself with protests and has constantly persuaded Nigerians to persevere. “Our client has expressed dissatisfaction with certain policies and has voiced the same out through constructive criticism, without malice or resentment.”
Obi said Onanuga’s allegation was a calculated plot to demean, ridicule, humiliate and embarrass him by the estimation of every right-thinking member of the society, disclosing that since the publication, he has been inundated him with calls by associates all over the world, “to register their shock.”
The former presidential candidate warned that if Onanuga fails to meet his demands, he would be constrained to approach a court of competent jurisdiction and take legal action against him for defamation and libel.
