Seized N13bn cash: Amaechi demands N2bn from Fani-Kayode, Fayose’s aide

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi , has
written to a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi
Fani- Kayode , and an aide to Governor Ayodele
Fayose of Ekiti State, Mr. Lere Olayinka , citing
character defamation over the allegation that he (the
minister) owns the $43 m (about N13bn ) seized by
the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in
Ikoyi , Lagos . Amaechi , in letters dated April 14 , 2017, written on
his behalf by his lawyer , Mr . Lateef Fagbemi (SAN ) ,
to the two men, said his client had been defamed by
the claims of the two men .
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.
He is also demanding two separate sums of N750m
totalling N1.5 bn 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.
In his letter to Fani-Kayode , Fagbemi said it was
wrong for the former minister to assume that
Amaechi owned the flat and the money found in it .
Fagbemi said as a lawyer , Fani -Kayode knew that he
ought to approach the Land Registry , especially in
Lagos State, where he said there were proper records
of property owners , in order to verify the ownership
of the property in question .
He said the former deliberately refused to carry out a
diligent search in order to achieve a malicious aim.
Fagbemi said Fani-Kayode had claimed through his
twitter handle that “ The $43 m is Rotimi Amaechi ’ s .
He owns the flat ( where ) it was found in too (sic.) .
NIA story is fake news . NIA does not keep cash in
minister’ s flats .”
He said the story was a lie and that it was aimed at
impeaching the integrity of his client, who he
described as a two -term speaker of the Rivers State
House of Assembly and a two -term governor of the
same state .
Fagbemi said Amaechi neither owned the flat where
the money was found nor owned the cash as well .
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. ”
In view of this, he gave Fani-Kayode a seven -day
ultimatum to tender apology to the minister and that
such apology be carried by five national dailies.
Fagbemi added that Fani-Kayode should pay his
client N500 m damages as “ compensation for the
malicious and defamatory claim.”
He threatened to sue the minister if the demands
were not met within seven days.
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 .
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 .
“ The house was built by Alhaji Adamu Mu’ azu , the
former Chairman of PDP through a loan from
GTBank .
“ He could not repay the loan so GTB took over the
house and allocated the Pent House to Mu’ azu and
two flats
“ Rotimi Amaechi bought TWO of the flats ( 7A and
7B ). He then gave 7A to Mo Abudu , the TV presenter,
who is suspected to be his girlfriend.
But the flat 7B , where the money was found, belong
( sic) to Rotimi Amaechi.
“ This is believed to be cash kept for 2019 elections .
“ Let ’ s see how the cover up game goes.”
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 letter relating to the twitter post read in part ,
“ Your twitter post of 14/04/ 2014 as at 07 pm today was
viewed by not less than 12, 000 followers, retweeted
38 times and made a favourite by nine followers as
of the time of writing this letter .
“ Please note that the list is increasing by the minute
and same has satisfied all the conditions needed for
a successful defamation case against you . May we
state at this juncture that our client contracted a
valid statutory marriage within the Marriage Act,
which prescribes a ‘ one man-one wife’ union.
“ Your baseless assertion that our client bought a flat
for one Mo Abudu , whom you also claim to be his
girlfriend, raises the assertion that our client is
adulterous and is unfaithful to his marital vows .
“ 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.
“ In the light of the foregoing, and in the spirit of a
second chance , we have our client’ s instructions to
give you an ultimatum of seven days from the
receipt of this letter to issue an apology in five
national dailies and on your twitter handle .
“ Your apology, which should be heartfelt , must be a
total withdrawal of your claim and its imputations
must also contain an expression of deep regret for
this unwarranted attack and must also contain a
complete retraction of the false statement of yours .
“ We also demand from you a sum of N750 , 000, 000 .00
( Seven hundred and Fifty Million Naira ) as
compensation for the malicious and defamatory
claim.
“ Please note that the demand will increase with time
if you fail to retract the statement and publication
immediately .
“ Failure to do any of these would be met with stiff
legal actions which your defamatory act deserves. A
stitch in time saves nine !”
He reproduced the same content , making similar
demands of apology and N750m compensation in the
second letter in which he stated that Olayinka ’ s
“ Facebook post of April 13, 2017 was viewed by your
over 5, 000 friends with 47 friends liking it , 84 people
commenting on it and 43 people sharing it as at the
time of writing this letter .”
In his response , however, Fani -Kayode said he had
not received any court letters from Amaechi .
In a statement by his media aide , Jude Ndukwe , the
ex -minister said , “ We have been inundated with calls
concerning a threat by Rotimi Amaechi to sue Chief
Fani- Kayode for defamation over the $ 43m issue .
“ We are not losing any sleep over this matter . We
have not received any court processes or letters from
Amaechi but when we do so, our lawyers will
respond vigorously and appropriately .”