The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has threatened to sue the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, over the minister’s alleged defamatory statements against him.
Mr Cole said Mr Wike risks being sued if he fails to retract the remarks made on a live television programme last month, pay him N20 billion compensation, and meet other demands with seven days.
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In a letter written to Mr Wike by his lawyer on 8 October, sighted by this newspaper, Mr Tonye alleged that the FCT Minister made some defamatory remarks against him when he appeared on a Channels Television Programme ‘Politics Today’ anchored by Seun Okinbaloye on 18 September.
Mr Tonye, through his lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in the letter, alleged that Mr Wike, during the live broadcast, made “damaging, malicious and unfounded defamatory statements” against him.
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According to the businessman and politician, Mr Wike described him as a “thief,” accused him of “stealing state resources,” and claimed he “was a conduit pipe with Sahara.”
Sahara Group is an energy conglomerate co-founded by Mr Cole, an ally of Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers, whom Mr Wike succeeded in 2015. Messrs Wike and Amaechi, once political allies, no longer see eye-to-eye politically and otherwise.
The letter further said that Mr Wike specifically accused Mr Cole of “selling Rivers State gas for $308 million,” alleging that he was “directly responsible for crippling the resources of Rivers State.”
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According to the letter, bearing the minister’s office’s acknowledgment marking dated 9 October, Mr Cole said the alleged defamatory words, broadcast live to millions and widely circulated online, depicted him as “a thief, a dishonest and fraudulent person, an economic saboteur, and a morally bankrupt man,” calculated to expose him to “public obloquy, hatred, ridicule, and contempt.”
Mr Cole denied the allegations, saying that he “has never been indicted, convicted, or found guilty of any crime” relating to the matters raised or any matter at all.
The demands
According to Mr Cole’s lawyer, to mitigate the “colossal damage” already caused by Mr Wike’s allegations through the broadcast, the politician made some demands, namely:
That Mr Wike should make an immediate retraction of the defamatory statements in writing.
That Mr Wike should cause the retraction to be broadcast with equal prominence on Channels Television and published in at least three national newspapers.
That the FCT minister should make an unreserved public apology to be broadcast with equal prominence on Channels Television and published in at least three national newspapers.
Mr Cole also demanded a payment of N20 billion as compensation.
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The letter also demanded a written undertaking from Mr Wike to desist forthwith from any further defamatory publications against Mr Cole.
It warned that Mr Cole has given Mr Okutepa “unequivocal instruction” to file a suit against Mr Wike should he refuse, fail and or neglect to comply fully with the demands within the specified 14-day period.
When contacted, the minister’s spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, said Mr Wike stood by what he said about Mr Cole in the broadcast.
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