Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has issued a seven-day ultimatum to legal practitioner Oladotun Hassan, demanding a retraction of his allegation of certificate forgery or face legal action.
In a letter titled “Defamatory Publications Against Mr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa,” written by his counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, the governor also requested an apology to be published in three national dailies. The letter, dated April 8, was made available to newsmen in Abuja.
It addressed Hassan’s submission of an unsolicited complaint to the Nigeria Police Force on June 2, 2023, alleging misrepresentation, certificate forgery, examination malpractice, and perjury against Gov. Aiyedatiwa.
“Whereas you are not a registered voter or an indigene of Ondo State, you lack the legal basis for your complaint.
“Your petition was cleverly routed through unauthorized sources within the police force, and without recourse to our client, a report purportedly submitted to you by the police on February 19, 2024.
“You then caused the aforementioned report to be widely circulated as part of a malicious plan to disqualify our client from running in the governorship primary election in Ondo State.”
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“You thereafter caused another letter to be written to the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, APC, with the same purpose of disqualifying our client from participating in the governorship primary election of the said party fixed for April 2024.
“You have since led a vicious campaign of calumny against our client through these and other false publications, all of which have brought our client into public ridicule and opprobrium, albeit without any justification whatsoever,” he said.
The senior lawyer also accused Hassan of writing another letter on April 5, claiming that instead of clearing Aiyedatiwa’s name in the alleged forgery, the governor conspired with DIG Sylvester Alabi to undermine police integrity.
Adegboruwa claimed Hassan’s intention was to prevent Aiyedatiwa from running in the APC primary in April and the November governorship election in the state.
He issued seven demands against the governor, including “adequate compensation for the false and libelous publications,” within seven days of receiving the letter or face criminal charges.
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