Wahala de ba Ajimobi, from Agodi government house to Agodi prison: Ladoja sues Ajimobi over alleged N500m plea-bargaining as Ladoja demand 10 billion Naira damages!!! GOVERNORSHIP candidate of the Accord Party and former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has sued Governor Abiola Ajimobi over alleged N500 million plea-bargaining. Ladoja is demanding N10 billion damages in connection with the claim by Governor Ajimobi that the state government had received N500 million from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as the proceeds of a plea- bargaining between Ladoja and the anti-corruption body. The former governor had denied the allegation by Ajimobi and attributed the claim to an attempt to smear his integrity ahead of the next month’s election. Ladoja, on Wednesday, instructed his lawyer, Biodun Abdu-Raheem, to write Ajimobi seeking N10 billion damages, a retraction of the publication and apology within seven days or the governor should be prepared for a date in court. A copy of the letter dated January 14, 2015 and addressed to Governor Ajimobi was made available to newsmen in Ibadan, on Thursday. It was headlined: “Re: Oyo State publication in the Nigerian Tribune of January 14, 2015 at pages 10, 11 and 12 and the Nation Newspaper at pages 7, 56 and 57 captioned N500 million EFCC refund by Ladoja: Face of Ladoja, the serial liar- demand for N10 billion damages, retraction and apology.” “For the umpteenth time, our client denies in its entirety the allegation by your government that he made the refund as alleged or at all to the EFCC. Our client demands of you to make available any document directly tending to show that he made such payments and for the purpose alleged, that is, plea-bargaining. “We reiterate that none of the documents published so far substantiates the fact that our client is directly involved in the allegation. We wish to note that going by the contents of your letters exhibited in the said publications, that is, 6th September, 2013; November 2013; 26th November, 2013 and 9th January, 2014 “There is nothing to show that as at 10th January, 2014, when the last letter was said to have been received by the EFCC and till date that your request for “revalidation”, “repatriation” and “release” as variously requested by your government in your said letters have been acceded to or granted by the EFCC. “We also note that all the aforementioned letters are at your instance and none was at the instance of the EFCC in order to know that any of your requests was granted at all. Could it have been that the non-inclusion of the EFCC’s letters was a deliberate act or omission on the part of government?” “Drawing from the above, it is very clear from your last letter dated 9th January, 2014 that the government was at best still pursuing the revalidation, repatriation and release of the cheques and their money value as at that date. “How come then that the cheques which were yet to be revalidated as of January, 2014 bore various dates in November, 2013 and presumed to have been cashed same period? This scenario raises more questions than it actually answers. “Your Excellency, we have the authority of our client to specifically request you to produce to the reading public the paper where our client “spelt out how he spent the proceeds of Oyo State money,” particularly the shares of his wives, children, cronies and himself. “Furthermore, we hereby demand of your government to produce the said papers as alleged, the approval of EFCC that our client made the refund of N500 million as alleged, the EFCC approval of repatriation of the sum of money within seven days from the receipt of this letter or in the alternative a retraction of the said offending publication and letter of apology addressed to our client and published in the newspapers. “Take notice Sir, that failure to act as requested above, we have the instruction of our client to seek redress in court,” the lawyer said!!
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 06:43:45 +0000
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