Peter Obi issues 72-Hour Ultimatum to Bayo Onanuga, seeks ₦5b in damages for defamation

We Came With Nothing, We Leave With Nothing: Obi Prays for Blackmailers

Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has given Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, a 72-hour deadline to retract an allegedly defamatory statement made against him.

Onanuga had accused Obi’s supporters of orchestrating a planned nationwide protest against economic hardship in Nigeria. In response, Obi, through his lawyer Alex Ejesieme, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has demanded a public apology from Onanuga. The apology is to be published in four national newspapers, addressing what Obi describes as “widespread defamation and libel.”

In addition to the retraction and public apology, Obi is seeking N5 billion in damages from Onanuga. Failure to meet these demands within the stipulated time frame will result in legal action, Ejesieme warned.

Onanuga accused Peter Obi and his supporters of plotting to unseat President Tinubu

Bayo Onanuga had alleged that supporters of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, are planning to unseat President Tinubu under the guise of protests.

In a statement posted on his verified X handle on Saturday, Onanuga claimed that the protests are being organized by “malcontents” backing Peter Obi, whom he described as the “failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party.” He asserted that Obi should be held responsible for any crises resulting from these actions, though he did not provide evidence to support his allegations.

Onanuga characterized the planned protests as an insurrection against the current administration and called on the State Security Service (SSS) to arrest those involved. He also linked the protest organizers to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the 2020 ENDSARS movement, claiming they infiltrated the genuine youth protests against police brutality for their own agenda.

“Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathizer of their cause,” Onanuga stated. He accused these groups of spreading hashtags like ‘EndBadGovernance,’ ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ and ‘Revolution2024,’ branding them as anarchists attempting to destabilize the country because of Obi’s loss in the presidential election.

Onanuga urged security agents to interrogate those he described as “agents of destabilization” and argued that economic challenges are a global issue, not unique to Nigeria. He emphasized that the current administration has taken steps to address the nation’s economic problems and called on Nigerian citizens to consider the government’s efforts when deciding whether to join the protests.

“Nigerian citizens must consider the government’s attitude and concern about the cost of living crisis when deciding whether to join the protests by the Labour Party and IPOB supporters,” Onanuga concluded.