Fani-Kayode institutes N6bn defamation suit against Daily Trust

Former Aviation Minister and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Femi Fani-Kayode, has instituted a N6 billion law suit against the management of Daily Trust Newspaper for defaming his person.

This was contained in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of Daily Trust, dated August 31, 2020, and titled, ‘Defamation of the character of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode by his lawyer Iliyasu Gadu.

According to the letter, the lawsuit was in response to an article titled, ‘FFK, the Drug Addled Thug in Designer Wears’ dated August 30, 2020, and published by the news platform.

The author of the said article condemned the former minister for his verbal attack on a reporter of the platform, Charles Eyo during a press conference in Calabar, Cross River State.

The article alleged that the former minister who attended Cambridge University, was once “a drug addict” and had sought rehabilitation in Ghana, but “till today has not been cured of the habit.

However, the letter signed by Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Adeola Adesipe described the article as libelous and demanded an apology from the newspaper, within 14 days, which must be published in other national dailies.

The letter reads: “Be aware that our client has not only suffered an immeasurable loss of goodwill, but he is also currently confronted with unbearable opprobrium by his fans, followers, and colleagues across the globe.

“Our client is alive to his rights both in law and equity but is disposed to an opportunity to undo the evil you have done by retracting the said insalubrious remarks on the same platform it was published and apologizing to him in two other national dailies.

“You are also advised to enter into negotiations with us for the sum of N6bn being a token amount for penitence as opposed to the magnitude of infraction caused to our client’s nobility.”