Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has instituted a N15 billion defamation lawsuit against Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of running the fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The suit, filed on Wednesday at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja, followed allegations by Adeyemi that Gbajabiamila demanded a 48 per cent kickback from a N27.3 billion take-off grant reportedly approved for the purported agency.
The legal action comes about nine days after Gbajabiamila, through a cease-and-desist letter dated July 6, demanded that Adeyemi withdraw the allegations, remove all related videos, recordings, transcripts and publications from every platform under his control, and issue a public apology.
Claiming the demands were ignored, the Chief of Staff is asking the court to award him N10 billion in general damages and N5 billion in aggravated damages, arguing that the allegations were false, malicious and had seriously tarnished his reputation as well as the integrity of his office.
He is also seeking an order compelling Adeyemi to pay N200 million as the cost of the suit, publish an unconditional apology and retraction in five national newspapers, and post the same apology across all social media and online platforms where the claims were shared for at least 30 consecutive days.
The case was filed through the law firm of Pinheiro LP, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Kemi Pinheiro.
According to court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Gbajabiamila is asking the court to declare the allegations defamatory and restrain Adeyemi from making or circulating similar claims, insisting the accusations were entirely false and intended to portray him as a corrupt public official who abused his office for personal gain.
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