Akintunde said contrary to remarks made by George, Odubiyi was never INEC’s head of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Department.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Ex-Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State, Olufemi Odubiyi, has given PDP chieftain, Bode George, a seven-day ultimatum to retract the alleged defamatory comments made against him.
In a letter dated March 17 and addressed to George through his lawyer, Ayodele Akintunde, Odubiyi asked the former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP to also tender an unreserved apology and published same on the cover pages of three national dailies.
In another letter written to the managing director of a media group, Akintunde threatened to slam a N1 billion suit against the media house and George as damages for the alleged defamatory comments if they fail to comply with the demand.
The lawyer alleged that the PDP chieftain, in an interview on TV on March 10, accused Odubiyi of being a mole planted in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to subvert the will of the Nigerian electorate in the February 25 presidential election.
The lawyer said his statements meant that his client was criminally minded and had been involved in criminal activities such as election rigging.
“In their natural and ordinary meaning, your said words meant and were understood to mean that our client is an enemy of democracy; an election rigger,” he said.
Akintunde said contrary to remarks made by George, Odubiyi was never INEC’s head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Department.
He also said he was not responsible for the hitches with INEC’s computers during the presidential poll which resulted in the commission’s inability to transmit results electronically.
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The senior lawyer, who corrected the erroneous assumption that Odubiyi was commissioner for Science and Technology during Tinubu’s administration, said his client was commissioner between October 2015 and January 2018.
He described Odubiyi as “a right standing and reputable member of the society and well-meaning citizens of Nigeria with numerous years of experience locally and internationally as an IT expert without any blemish.”
In the letter to George, he said: “Our client’s instructions are therefore to demand from you the following:
“Within seven days of the receipt of this letter, you personally retract live on Arise News and Arise News YouTube channel all the defamatory words/statements made against our client.
“And tender an unreserved apology to our client for the damage to his reputation.”
He also demanded from the media station a retraction and unreserved apology “on the cover page of ThisDay Newspaper in no less than three issues within the seven-day ultimatum.”
The lawyer said all the defamatory broadcasts and comments made by George be deleted from the TV station’s YouTube channel and any other platform under its control.
He asked them to give an undertaking in writing to desist from broadcasting or further broadcasting the defamatory statements or similar statements concerning his client in future.
Akintundesaid failure to comply and provide them with proof of compliance within seven days of the receipt of the letter would lead to the commencement of legal action against them for monetary damages in the sum of N1 billion.
INEC had on March 14 denied the claim by George that Odubiyi was the commission’s director of ICT Department.