Ebun Francis| Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has asked the Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu to investigate the allegation that he collected N4 billion from Ibrahim Magu, suspended acting chairman of the EFCC.
Osibanjo’s request was contained in a petition dated July 8 and addressed to the IGP, through his lawyer,Taiwo Osipitan.
According to the petition, publisher of the allegation, Jackson Ude, if left unchecked, will continue to publish these “false claims” on social media unless an action for “criminal defamation” is commenced against him.
The lawyer to the vice-president, therefore, asked the IGP to initiate criminal proceeding against the publisher of the said article, if the allegation is false after investigation.
The petition read, “We act as Solicitors to Prof. YemiOsinbajo SAN, GCON, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (“our Client”) and on whose instruction we write this Petition against one Jackson Ude for Criminal Defamation.”
“These vicious and malicious publications are meant to achieve one objective only, to represent to his readership and others (Nigerians and Foreigners) that our Client is a dishonest and disloyal public officer and consequently unfit for the position of Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which he is occupying.
“We are of the view that unless an action for criminal defamation is commenced against the said Mr. Jackson Ude, he will continue to use his social media platform to publish materials that are false and criminally defamatory of our client’s reputation.
“In view of the above, we humbly request that you cause the above allegations, made against our client, to be investigated and if the suggested investigation confirms our complaint of the falsehood of these allegations, to initiate criminal proceedings pursuant to the provisions of sections 391 – 395 of the penal code act for criminal defamation against the said Jackson Ude.”
On Wednesday night, the vice-president had through his spokesman, Laolu Akande, denied the claim, describing it as the report as “baseless fabrications”, by unscrupulous elements to tarnish the image of honest public officials.
“With all emphasis at our disposal, let it be firmly stated that these are totally false and baseless fabrications purporting to reflect goings-on at the Probe Panel investigating Mr. Ibrahim Magu. They are indeed completely absurd in every respect,” the statement read.
“Sadly, such mindless, vicious and reckless publications have now become the preferred tool of unscrupulous and reprobate elements in our society who are procured with monetary inducement to peddle blatant falsehood, tarnish the image of upright public officials and mislead unsuspecting Nigerians.
“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, will of course not be distracted by these obvious campaigns of lies and calumny. The online publications, being criminally defamatory in nature, have been referred to the relevant law enforcement agencies for investigation and necessary action.”
Magu was accused of embezzling N39 billion recovered loot and currently facing a presidential, allegedly gave Osinbajo N4 billion after the vice-president instructed him to do so.
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