The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has given the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, 72 hours to apologise and pay ₦5 billion damages to him over defamation and libel or face legal action.

Peter Obi made the demand following Onanuga’s wild allegation, linking him to the planned mass protest scheduled for August.

However, the former Governor of Anambra State, writing through his counsel, Alex Ejesieme, SAN, said that the allegation, which was widely published in social and mainstream media and read by many within and outside the country, maligned his hard-earned reputation as a man who indulges in violence when all his antecedents are vivid that he abhors violence even in the face of extreme provocation.

Peter Obi said the demeaning and scandalous publication also caused a severe emotional injury to him, given his decades of stellar stewardship in private and public life.

The legal counsel wrote, “It’s our client’s conviction that the publication was a calculated plot to demean, ridicule, humiliate and embarrass him by the estimation of every right-thinking member of the society.

“His appellation as ‘Okwute’ ( the Rock) notwithstanding, the demeaning and scandalous publication has also caused a serious emotional injury to our client given his decades of stellar stewardship in private and public life.

“Consequently, we have our client mandate to demand that you retract the statement made in the publication and tender an unreserved apology to him within 72 hours of the receipt of this letter in not less than 4 National Dailies to wit: Vanguard, THISDAY, Punch and the Cable, including your verified X“@aonanuga1956.

“Our client is also making an unequivocal demand for the monetary damage of N5b for the embarrassment your defamatory publication has caused him and his family.

“In the event of your failure to meet the demands set out above, our client shall be constrained to approach a Court of Competent jurisdiction and take legal action against you for defamation and libel.”