THE National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, has demanded N1bn in damages and an apology from a member of the party, Kassim Afegbua, over statements which he said impugned on his integrity.
Afegbua was Oshiomhole’s aide when Oshiomhole was the governor of Edo State.
Secondus asked Afegbua to pay the damages, retract the statements and apologise within 48 hours or be ready to face a lawsuit.
Secondus’ demands were contained in a letter by his lawyer, Emeka Etiaba (SAN), dated April 29, 2021 and addressed to Afegbua.
The letter was titled ‘Re: Case of defamation of character of Prince Uche Secondus: National chairman, Peoples Democratic Party.’
Recall that Afegbua had dragged Secondus to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over alleged N10 billion fraud.
In the petition, Afegbua had asked the anti-graft agencies to scrutinise the N10bn that allegedly accrued to the PDP from 2017 till date, especially the money that accrued from sales of nomination forms for different elections.
The PDP had however described Afegbua’s allegation as spurious, saying it was contemplating legal action against him.
Secondus’ lawyer, Emeka Etaiba, in the letter, said, apart from the petition filed before the anti-graft agencies, Afegbua made some defamatory claims against the PDP chairman in a press statement he authored.
According to him, claims made in the statement portrayed Secondus as a fraudulent man whose financial dealings are shady.
He added that it also portrayed the PDP chairman as a fraudster who is incapable of holding the office of the party’s national chairman.
While saying that in all the positions Secondus held, he served without blemish, Etiaba said, Afegbua’s false claims has challenged his (Secondus’) right standing in the society as a trustworthy person.
He added, “The above publications were read worldwide and most especially in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria and this fact has been confirmed by the phone calls that have trailed your publications.
“Take notice that if you fail to retract your said publications, apologise to our client in the said newspapers with the same prominence with which you published the offensive statements and pay the sum of N1bn to him as damages all within 48 hours from the date hereof, we shall proceed to institute an action to seek redress from a court of competent jurisdiction.”
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