Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has sued a member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Samuel Omotoso, and Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, for libel.
Fayemi, the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, is claiming N3billion as damages from Omotoso and Olayinka in a libel suit filed by his counsel, Rafiu Balogun, before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja for alleged offensive statements made against him.
The minister’s action follows the failure of the defendants to retract statements and tender public apology as demanded by Balogun, in a letter dated November 19, 2016.
According to copies of court papers made available on Wednesday, the plaintiff is seeking among others, payment of an aggravated damages to the tune of N3billion (N2billion against Olayinka, the first defendant and another N1 billion aggravated damages against Omotoso, the second defendant.)
The plaintiff is also seeking a retraction of alleged offensive statements and public apology to be published and aired on Ekiti State Television (EKTV) 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 further libelous publications or statements or utterances against him.
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.
Reacting to the suit, Olayinka said Fayemi has a lot of petitions against him on the economy of Ekiti State.
“I think his going to court will afford us the opportunity to expose him further,” he said.
“Why did he not come to Ekiti, why did he choose to go to Abuja to file the suit, it is something that happened here in Ekiti and he is also from Ekiti State?
“We are not afraid of him, he can go to court, he should explain where is the flowers he said he paid for, the SUBEB funds.
“He brought us to where we are today by taking all frivolous loans that we are suffering from today.”
No date has been fixed for hearing of the case.
