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Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, has dared Peter Obi to bring his defamation and libel charges against him, saying he’s not afraid of any lawsuit.
Obi had earlier on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, threatened to sue Onanuga if he failed to apologise and retract an allegation linking him to an impending mass protest.
Obi threatened to sue Onanuga after the latter accused him of instigating ‘his mob’ to destabilise the country.
In a tweet on Monday, the president’s spokesperson said Obi’s comment about the Nigerian economy at a time when some youths are planning to stage a mass protest is an attempt to ‘work up his mob’ ahead of the protests to ‘destabilize the country.’
In an earlier tweet, Onanuga said “Peter Obi’s supporters are the people planning mayhem in Nigeria and that Obi should be held responsible for anarchy.”
Reacting, Obi’s legal team said Onanuga’s tweet has damaged his reputation, depicting him as someone who condones violence despite his well-documented history of non-violence, even under provocation.
“It’s our client’s conviction that the publication was a calculated plot to demean, ridicule, humiliate, and embarrass him by the estimation of every right-thinking member of society,” the team stated in a letter addressed to Onanuga.
Obi also demanded a retraction and a public apology in four national dailies and on Onanuga’s verified X account.
Furthermore, the ex-governor of Anambra State sought ₦5 billion in damages for the embarrassment caused to him and his family.
But Onanuga has asked Obi to bring on his ₦5 billion suit, saying he’s not afraid of any legal action.
“I am still waiting for the letter from Peter Obi’s lawyer threatening a ₦5 billion suit and demanding an apology to Peter Obi over the planned ‘revolution’. Let me just tell Obi and his lawyer : I am not afraid of any legal action. We shall meet in court,” he tweeted.
APC tackles Obi
Earlier, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) accused Obi of inciting Nigerians against President Bola Tinubu with manipulative and false narratives.
The ruling party described the ex-governor’s submission on the economy as “an admixture of half-truths, blatant distortions and misinformation calculated to mobilise outrage against the APC government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The party said it is hypocritical of Obi to expect Tinubu to achieve what he “failed miserably to accomplish in eight years as governor of Anambra State.”