Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has threatened to institute legal action against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over alleged defamation.
According to the solicitors to the former CBN Boss, Emefiele will be demanding N25billion damages from Akpabio if he refuses to retract his statement against their client.
This was contained in a letter signed by his lead counsel, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, and addressed to Senator Akpabio on Emefiele’s brief.
The proposed lawsuit is a reaction to a widely circulated statement made by the Senate President in a video displayed by Channels Television last weekend that allegedly disparaged the character of Emefiele.
The embattled CBN former Boss had responded to the allegation, describing it as a distorted fact aimed at tarnishing his hard-earned reputation before the public.
In the video, Akpabio said, “We don’t know what crime to charge Emefiele with.
“So the kind of debt and the kind of economic mess that we are in, a lot of people do not understand. I remember President Obama saying you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington.
“So by the time we went in to look at the economic state of the country, it was terrible, so the Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria we didn’t even know what to charge him, whether to charge him for putting foam on the…or to charge him for illegal possession of firearms or to charge him for printing notes without income, I don’t know what we are going to charge him with. But, what I know is that, yes there is hunger today because of the policies that they took.”
In a protest letter to the Senate President, Emefiele said Akpabio had, in his statement suggested that “the cause of the entire hardship in Nigeria today is as a result of the policies of the previous administration.”
It also said it described Emefiele as “a serial offender whose action is responsible for all the hardship experienced by Nigerians today.
“A person who has committed offences that are so numerous that the government is confused as to which of the offences to prefer a charge against him.”
The solicitors now accused Akpabio of subjudice, adding that the former CBN chief had been charged to court and is currently defending himself.
They further claimed that it was more disturbing that as head of the legislature, Akpabio should have known that his statement was capable of undermining the integrity and sovereignty of the court.
“You are also aware that no single policy was carried out by Our Client without the approval, directive or authorization of the President and/or the Federal Executive Council of which you were a key and powerful member.
“It is under the above and without delving into the matter presently pending in Court that our client has instructed that we write to Your good offices and demand the immediate retraction of Your statement which has gone viral and is considered defamatory of our client.
“These baseless and false allegations defame the character of our client and have also caused him great pains and embarrassment as it has lowered his esteem before the right-thinking members of the Society in addition to the obvious odium and opprobrium from the unsuspecting members of the Society as a result of the falsity contained in that statement.
“We, therefore, have our client’s further instruction to demand from you an unreserved apology in writing, published and circulated by the same medium with which you have defamed his character and the sum of Twenty-Five Billion Naira (N25,000,000,000) as reasonable compensation for the willful and unjustifiable denigration of his hard-earned reputation.
“If you fail, refuse or neglect to comply with this legitimate demand, our Client will be at liberty to seek the appropriate redress available to him under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Whilst anticipating your compliance with the above, kindly accept the assurances of our best regards,” part of the letter read.
