A former commissioner for science and technology in Lagos State, Mr Olufemi Odubiyi, has given Chief Olabode George a seven-day ultimatum to retract the comments he made against him on the breakdown of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), server or be sued.
Odubiyi also said George, a former deputy national chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), must also tendered an unreserved apology and published same on the cover pages of three prescribed national dailies.
He stated this through his lawyer, Ayodele Akintunde, in a letter addressed to George dated March 17 and copies made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
In another letter written to the managing director/CEO, Arise Media Group, Akintunde threatened to slam a N1 billion suit against the media house and George as damages for the defamatory comments if they fail to comply with the demand.
The lawyer alleged that the PDP chieftain, in an interview on Arise TV on March 10, accused Odubiyi of being a mole planted in the Independent National Electoral Commission by the president-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC), to subvert the will of the Nigerian electorate in the February, 25, 2023 presidential election.
The lawyer said his statements meant that his client was criminally minded and had been involved in criminal activities such as election rigging.
“In their natural and ordinary meaning, your said words meant and were understood to mean that our client is an enemy of democracy; an election rigger.
“He is a dishonest, disgraceful and corrupt person lacking integrity; that our client has sold and compromised his integrity as an IT professional.
“And that he has the capacity to commit further election manipulation of results in the governorship and house of assembly elections,” he said in the two letters.
Akintunde said contrary to George’s remarks, Odubiyi was never INEC’s head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) department.
