Amaechi demands N2bn compensation from Fani-Kayode, Fayose’s aide

Amaechi demands N2bn compensation from Fani-Kayode, Fayose’s aide

- The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has given Fani-Kayode and a media aide to the governor of Ekiti state, Lere Olayinka, seven-day ultimatum to retract statement they made against him
- Counsel to the minister, Lateef Fagbemi, is demanding N500m from Fani-Kayode as compensation for the alleged malicious posts by the former minister on his twitter handle on April 14
- The lawyer in two separate letters, each relating separately to Facebook and Twitter posts by Olayinka, is demanding the sums of N750m as compensation for each of the posts
The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode and a media aide to governor of Ekiti state, Lere Olayinka, to publicly apologise and pay him the sum of N2n for linking him to the seized Ikoyi N13 billion.

The minister, who made the demand in separate letters dated 14th April, 2017, through his lawyer, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) also gave Fani-Kayode and Olayinka seven-day ultimatum to meet his conditions.

Amaechi is demanding N500m from Fani-Kayode as compensation for the alleged malicious posts by the former minister on his twitter handle on April 14.
The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has denied owning the Ikoyi property where the sum of N13 billion was found.
He is also demanding two separate sums of N750m totaling N1.5bn from Olayinka as compensation for the alleged “malicious” posts by the Ekiti state governor’s spokesperson on his Facebook timeline and twitter handle on April 14, The Punch reports.
The counsel to the minister also warned that there would be stiff legal actions should Fani-Kayode and Olayinka fail to adhere to the demand over the alleged defamatory acts.

The lawyer in his letter to Fani-Kayode, said it was wrong for the former minister to assume that Amaechi owned the flat and the money found in it.
Fagbemi said Fani-Kayode should have verified his facts from the Land Registry, where there were proper records of property owners, in order ascertain the ownership of the property in question before making the allegation.

The lawyer accused Fani-Kayode of refusing to verify his facts in order to achieve a malicious aim.
According to Leadership, he quoted the offensive aspect of Fani-Kayode tweets as: “The $43 million is Rotimi Amaechi’s. He owns the flat it was found in (sic) too. NIA’s story is fake news! NIA does not keep cash in minister’s flats.”

He said Amaechi neither owns the house where the cash was found, adding that the claim by Fani-Kayode was unfounded.
The letter reads in part: “Our client neither owns the cash nor the house where the cash was found and your story and claim are unfounded. As a matter of fact, our client does not own any house in Lagos State not to talk of keeping cash in one and your story is preposterous.

“Your twitter rant of 14/04/2014 at 04.16 was viewed by your 316. 000 followers, re-tweeted 1,209 times and made a favourite by 434 followers as of the time of writing this letter today at 7.15pm and the list is increasing by the minute and same has satisfied all the conditions needed for a successful defamation case against you.

“We have our client’s mandate to state to you unequivocally that the said twitter publication constitutes libel, and is defamatory of him as same (the claim) is aimed at impugning our client’s character and credit in the eyes of right thinking Nigerians and foreigners.”

The lawyer gave Fani-Kayode a seven-day ultimatum to tender apology to the minister and that such apology be carried by five national dailies, threatening to sue the former minister the demands were not met within seven days.
Besides, the lawyer in two separate letters, each relating separately to Facebook and Twitter posts by Olayinka, demanded the sums of N750m as compensation for each of the posts.

It was learnt that Fagbemi quoted Olayinka as stating in the posts: “The Osborne Towers, a luxury residential complex in lkoyi, Lagos where EFCC said it found $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 on Wednesday is owned by the Minister of Transportation. Rotimi Amaechi.”
He also accused Olayinka of falsely making adulterous imputation against his client, who he stated “contracted a valid statutory marriage within the Marriage Act, which prescribes a ‘one-man one-wife’ union".

The lawyer warned that the demand will increase with time if Olayinka fails to retract the statement and publication immediately.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state has given a 14 day ultimatum to Governor Nyesom Wike, Governor Ayodele Fayose and Femi Fani-Kayode, to
apologise to the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for linking the Ikoyi $43m to the minister.

The APC in a statement on Monday, April 17, by the state chairman, of the party, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, described the accusation as an attempt to tarnish the image of Amaechi because he collaborated with other patriotic Nigerians to oust the PDP regime from power, The Punch reports.

The party maintained that apart from his Abuja residence, the minister does not have any single plot of land in any part of the country.

the deputy national publicity secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, faults the party's leadership.