Fayemi sues state House of Assembly member, Fayose’s aide to court for libel

- Two state officials, a member of House of Assembly and Governor Fayose’s media aide are standing trial for allegedly making defamatory statements against Fayemi

- Former governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi slammed the duo with a N3 billion libel suit

Former governor of Ekiti state and minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, has taken two Ekiti state officials to court, for a libel suit. The minister slammed the officials with a N3 billion libel suit over alleged defamatory statements made against him.

Fayemi filed the suit against a member of the Ekiti state House of Assembly, Samuel Omotoso, and the special assistant on new media and public communications to Governor Ayodele Fayose, Lere Olayinka.

Former Ekiti governor, Fayemi sues state House of Assembly member, Fayose’s aides to court

According to Premium Times, the suit followed the refusal of the defendants to retract the statements made against the minister and to tender public apology as demanded by his counsel, Rafiu Balogun, in a letter dated November 19, 2016.

Fayemi in a suit number 6/577/2016, filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in the Abuja Judicial Division, is seeking among others, payment of “aggravated damages” to the tune of N3 billion.

The amount has a breakdown of N2 billion against Lere Olayinka, the first defendant and another N1bilion aggravated damages against Mr. Omotoso, the second defendant.

Fayemi is also seeking a retraction of what he termed the offensive statements/utterances; a public apology to be published and aired on Ekiti State Television and Channels Television as well as the social media.

According to a statement by Fayemi’s media aide, both Omotoso and Olayinka had during an EKTV live programme also broadcast on a cable network, Startimes, on July 6, 2016 alleged that Mr. Fayemi illegally took N1.5 billion from Ekiti treasury and gave it to the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, to win the 2015 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Ekiti Youth Vanguard has come out to criticized the state House of Assembly over call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate former Governor Kayode Fayemi over an alleged N40 billion fraud.

The youth group described the move as a tactic by Governor Ayodele Fayose and “his men in the House of Assembly” to divert the attention of Ekiti people from the “mindless looting of the state treasury by Fayose’s administration while workers remain unpaid for six months”.