Forex claim: Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, demands PDP apology within 72 hours

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has threatened to sue the Peoples Democratic Party for accusing him of illegally trading in foreign exchange, except the party apologises to him.

Mr. Shehu said the party has up to 72 hours to withdraw its claim and tender an apology.

The PDP, through its twitter handle @PDPNigeria, had accused Mr. Shehu of buying USD800, 000 from the Central Bank of Nigeria at official rate, and selling it off the same day at black market rate.

Mr. Shehu, in an earlier response, denied the allegation, and said, “The day I choose to start trading in FOREX I will resign as a presidential spokesman”.

He then threatened legal action if he knew the “coward and psychopath” behind the @PDPNigeria handle.

Having verified that the twitter handle in question (@PDPNigeria) is the official handle of the PDP, Mr. Shehu, through his lawyers, Cherish Solicitors, wrote to the national PDP chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, asking him to write a letter of apology and a retraction of the publication within 72 hours of the receipt of the letter.

“We shall be left with no option than to have recourse to our client’s rights under the law,” Mr. Shehu’s lawyer said.

“We condemn your defamatory and libellous actions in the strongest terms and we state that this is least expected from an organization of your standing which produced past and present crops of leaders, expected to be role model in the country,” stated the letter, signed by Aliyu Abdullahi.