RE: DEMAND FOR RETRACTION OF MALICIOUS AND DEFAMATORY PUBLICATION AGAINST THE PERSON OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (CDC) CHAIRMAN FOR KOSOFE LOCAL GOVERNMENT MR. SEGUN BABATUNDE
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at about 5 pm, We received a letter from DUX LODESTAR CHAMBERS, the solicitors of Kosofe Local Government Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman, Mr. Segun Babatunde, demanding from our Online Community Media – Kosofe Reporters – the payment of the sum of TEN MILLION NAIRA (N10,000,000) as damages for defamation of character for the news story written and published by the online publication on September 17, 2021.
Also in the letter which is titled, ” DEMAND FOR RETRACTION OF MALICIOUS AND DEFAMATORY PUBLICATION AGAINST THE PERSON OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (CDC) CHAIRMAN FOR KOSOFE LOCAL GOVERNMENT MR. SEGUN BABATUNDE”, written on October 25, 2021, the solicitors demand a retraction of the said publication which they say should be published in two Nationally published and circulated Newspapers in addition to a letter of apology.
We wish to state categorically that the demands being made by the solicitors of Mr. Segun Babatunde is outrageous, histrionic, ludicrous, outlandish and inconsequential. We are totally unperturbed by the letter and, therefore, urge Mr. Segun Babatunde to stop being “paper-tigerish”. He and his Solicitors should go a step further by taking their requests to the appropriate Court of Law. Our media outfit would not acquiesce to that ignominious demands. And our legal team are well prepared to take up the matter.
There is, however, one service we are willing to offer free of charge to Mr. Segun Babatunde on the pages of National Dailies and even on local television stations, that is drawing more attention to the matter that necessitated this outrageous demands. The last has definitely not been heard about the fraudulent relocation of Adebare Community Development transformer to Oko- Cole community.
Now that Mr. Segun Babatunde has thrown down the gauntlet, we have boldly picked it up and would pursue the matter with vigour and tenacity it requires. It is about time we put the fraudulent relocation of Adebare Community Development transformer to Oko-Cole community by Mr. Segun Babatunde to bed. The matter must be taken to the court of law. No more cover up. No more dilly-dally.
To this end, we have been in touch with reputable Human Rights Organization in the country to take the matter up and file for a whopping TWO HUNDRED MILLION NAIRA (N200,000,000) damages on behalf of the affected Community, residents and business owners who have been thrown into darkness and whose businesses and means of livelihoods have been badly affected by the greed and insensitivity of Mr. Segun Babatunde.
While we anxiously await Mr. Segun Babatunde and his Solicitors to take their libelous claim to court, we would like to state here that our legal team are ready to prove at the court of law that the offence Mr. Segun Babatunde committed is a fraud. And to perpetrate fraudulent act is to steal. Relocating a transformer duly registered in the name of a community to another community without any authorisation and without following due process is nothing but a sheer fraud. It is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. He deceived and lied to the residents of Adebare Community that he had been directed by the former chairman of Kosofe Local Government Hon. Afolabi Sofola to take the transformer for refurbishment. Not knowing that he had already finalized arrangement with Oko- Cole community to give them the transformer.
It will be recalled that Hon. Afolabi Sofola was consequently invited by zone 2 police command to explain his role in the illicit act. The former chairman vehemently denied issuing any directive to Mr. Segun Babatunde to relocate the transformer.
It is also very important to state at this juncture, that the case has not be totally resolved. The zone 2 police command has only decided to keep the case in view pending the time Kosofe Local Government Chairman, Barrister Moyosore Ogunlewe would fulfill the promise he made to the police command that he would give the community another transformer by the first quarter of next year.
But with this latest development, the matter now has to go to court. Mr. Segun Babatunde is trying to build a mountain out of a molehill, trying to manufacture flimsy and squeamish innocence where there is none. A person that is supposed to be in gaol by now is the one accusing us of defamation of character – defamation of character our foot! He is doomed to fail.
We have enough documents, evidences and witnesses at our disposal to prove our case in the court beyond any reasonable doubt. We also have the copy of a petition written by a community leader of Adebare Community to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 commands headquarters.
We also have a voice clip of Mr. Segun Babatunde when he was solicited for N200,000 from community members during a CDC meeting for his bail. We know of a person that assisted him with N40,000 as part of the money needed for his bail. Whether he turned himself up or not to the police following the petition written, the fact is that he paid a bail for his release.
“Ten million naira as damages for defamation of character kọọ, one thousand naira as damages for defamation of character níí”.
Olusegun Apena
The Publisher
Kosofe Reporters
