OYO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has sued the Independent Communications Network Limited, publishers of PM News, for libel.
The governor is demanding N1 billion damages.
PM News yesterday published a piece entitled: “Anxiety over Florence Ajimobi’s alleged arrest in UK”, which it claimed was written by an online agency, Newsleak.
The publication claimed that the governor’s wife was arrested in London with a money.
In a statement yesterday, Ajimobi’s media aide, Mr. Festus Adedayo, said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that the media do not become an instrument in the hands of blackmailers.
He said: “We state unequivocally that the report is not only wicked, but a figment of the writer’s imagination. Mrs. Ajimobi was never arrested for any offence.
“Even though our investigation has shown that the report was the work of some arrowheads of the opposition, it was done in such an amateurish way that beats the imagination of any responsible reader.”
Adedayo said though the government had much respect for the media, PM News must explain details of the report in court.
Ajimobi’s lawyers denied the report.
One of the family’s lawyers, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) of Adeniyi Akintola and Co. Chambers, described the report as “untrue, malicious and wicked publication intended solely to injure the good reputation of the Ajimobi family.”
Akintola said Mrs. Ajimobi was not arrested anywhere, “either at home or abroad”. He said she was in her Ibadan home, attending to visitors during the Sallah festivities on the Saturday the report claimed she was held in London.
Akintola faulted the claim that a renowned lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), secured her bail. He said Olanipekun has not left the country since last week.
Akintola said Mrs. Ajimobi travelled to the United Kingdom (UK) on Sunday because her child was to be given the country’s naturalisation certificate on Monday.
He said she would return today.
The lawyer said: “We do not know where they got the malicious, wicked and untrue rumour from. She was never arrested by any security agency, either in the UK or anywhere. She is not in custody anywhere and has always been a law abiding citizen. She is on her way back home as we speak and will be inaugurating some projects at home today.”
Akintola said his colleague, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), was taken aback when he heard about the untrue report. He said Falana, who was with him when he received the information on the telephone, later spoke with Mrs. Ajimobi, who denied the allegation.
SOURCE: 31 October 2012.
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