Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, has instituted a legal action against the management of Daily Trust Newspaper for defaming his person.
Fani-Kayode demanded N6billion from the management of Daily Trust or enter into a negotiation with him for a possible settlement over Defamation of character.
This was contained in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of Daily Trust, dated August 31, 2020, and titled, ‘Defamation of the character of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode by Iliyasu Gadu.
The lawsuit was in response to an article titled, ‘FFK, the Drug Addled Thug in Designer Wears’ dated August 30, 2020, and published by the news platform.
In the article, the writer lambasted the former minister for his verbal attack on a reporter of the platform, Charles Eyo during a press conference in Calabar, Cross River State.
The writer of the article claimed that the former minister who attended Cambridge University, was once “a drug addict” and had sought rehabilitation in Ghana, but “till today has not been cured of the habit.
However, the letter signed by Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Adeola Adesipe described the article as libelous and demanded an apology from the newspaper, which must be published in other national dailies.
The former minister said the news platform has 14 days to respond.
The letter reads: “Be aware that our client has not only suffered an immeasurable loss of goodwill, but he is also currently confronted with unbearable opprobrium by his fans, followers, and colleagues across the globe.
“Our client is alive to his rights both in law and equity but is disposed to an opportunity to undo the evil you have done by retracting the said insalubrious remarks on the same platform it was published and apologizing to him in two other national dailies.
“You are also advised to enter into negotiations with us for the sum of N6bn being a token amount for penitence as opposed to the magnitude of infraction caused to our client’s nobility.”