Najatu-Ribadu: Go To Court, I’ll Not Apologise, You Said Tinubu Is Corrupt
By Juliet Vincent
A politician, Najatu Mohammed, said she will not apology and retract her statement that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu once said President Bola Tinubu is corrupt.
She pointed out that Ribadu can go to court if wished over the remarks against him.
According to Najatu, the NSA once described President Tinubu as corrupt but now serving as NSA in his administration.
Najatu, an activist, who spoke with Premier Radio on Tuesday evening, said she stood by her words on Ribadu.
“As EFCC chairman, Ribadu once said that Tinubu was among the most corrupt persons. And among the Nigerian governors, Tinubu was number 1,” she said Ribadu once allegedly said.
“The video is on Youtube, and on this premise, I will not retract. I am only repeating what he said.
“I have not retracted my remark, and will not retract. Let him take me to court.
“Nuhu Ribadu should take me to Nigerian supreme court, please,” Najatu stressed.
However, Ribadu, through his lawyer, Ahmed Raji, in a letter dated February 4, debunked ever holding such a view in the past.
“Clearly, in the text of your recording [reproduced and translated above] you stated that when our client served as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes, [EFCC] he allegedly named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, alongside Sen. George Akume and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu [all former Governors, and in that order] as the governors in Nigeria who stole the most from public treasury.
“You also stated that today, our client, who once held the above odious view about President Tinubu, has turned around to be his staunchest defender, especially with regard to what you stated to be the government’s agenda to silence voices of dissent to the government, citing the alleged arrest of a certain Prof. Usman Yusuf as an example.
“You also stated that our client’s alleged attitudinal change towards President Tinubu means that he has either become a liar or that he lied when he allegedly described President Tinubu, Sen. Akume, Sen. Kalu, and other governors as thieves.
“Privately or publicly, our client has never expressed the above viewpoint about President Tinubu and/or Senators George Akume and Orji Uzor Kalu, which you attributed to him.
“In fact, our client has never held such a viewpoint about the president; hence, it came as a complete surprise to him when his attention was drawn to the aforesaid publication by you against him.
“In the foregoing premise, our client hereby challenges you to provide evidence of your allegations therein against him; which have cast him as double-faced, duplicitous, and deceitful in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society.
“Although masked as a clarion call to the North to rise up to your perceived injustice against the North by the government of the day, your publication is also inciting violence towards our client.
“Given this far-reaching ramification of your publication, our client will not sit back and watch his hard-earned reputation and goodwill destroyed by your malicious decision to not only lay false allegations against him, but also to cause the same to be published for the world’s attention.
“Your intention to bring our client to public ridicule, opprobrium, scorn, and shame, etc., is laid bare when it is considered that you deliberately caused the same to be published on social media, where it has since gone viral.
“Surely, the damage occasioned to our client by your deliberate but ill-advised action is unquantifiable. However, our client will be assuaged if you retract the said publication and tender an unreserved public apology to him in at least 5 [five] national daily newspapers within 7 [seven] days of receipt of this letter.
“If not, we have our client’s further instructions to seek redress against you in a court of law where exemplary damages will be claimed against you. Kindly be advised,” the letter emphasized.
