Atiku Vs Lauretta Onochie: In My Chambers, We Don’t Threaten People For The Fun Of It – Ozekhome, Says We’ll Meet In Court

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), says he is going ahead to file case against President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide on Social media, Lauretta Onochie, for over N2bn as she has failed to apologise and pay him the sum of N500m after allegedly defaming his client character.

According to PUNCH, Ozekhome disclosed this during an interview on Tuesday evening as the 48 hours given to Onochie to settle the matter out of court had lapsed.

He further stated that instead of paying the N500m and writing an apology as demanded by Atiku, the President’s aide went ahead to insult the former Vice-President again on social media.

The senior advocate said, “Of course, we are going to court because she has even aggravated the issue. She posted another comment online abusing Atiku saying that he was talking nonsense. She seems not to understand the gravity of what she has done.

“She has aggravated the matter. We shall meet in court and we practise a constitutional democracy and we are a society governed by laws. We are preparing to go to court. In my chambers, we don’t threaten people for the fun of it.

“When we say we will go to court if a demand is not meant, we stand by our words. We may even increase the lawsuit above N2bn because she has aggravated the matter.”

Atiku, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, had on Sunday written a letter to Onochie accusing her of character defamation for saying on Twitter that Atiku was on a security watch list in the United Arab Emirates.

The former Vice-President subsequently asked her to publish a written apology in six national dailies and pay the sum of N500m or meet him in court where he would sue her for N2bn.

In the letter seen by BIGPEN Online, Atiku’s lawyer wrote: “That you pay to our client through the firm, the sum of N500,000,000 only, representing minimal damages to assuage his already battered image wholly caused by your said defamatory publication.

“Take notice that if you fail or refuse to accede to our modest demands within the next 48 hours from the date of this letter, we shall be compelled to activate the full weight of the legal machinery against you without any further recourse to you.

“We shall be, in such a suit, claiming against you the sum of N2bn, representing exemplary aggravated and punitive damages. This shall be in addition to our demands in the paragraphs above”, Ozekhome stated.

However, Onochie said on her Facebook page the next day that Atiku was a depressed man who was trying to distract her.