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Atiku, left, and Lauretta Onochie.

For the alleged defamation of character contained in a statement made on her twitter handle, The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media, Lauretta Onochie has been told to apologise, retract the statement and pay N500 million as damages to the former vice president of Nigeria, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate in the 2019 elections Atiku Abubakar.

The information is contained in a letter from the Mike Ozekhome Chambers, Abuja, which wrote on behalf  Atiku Abubakar, calling attention to the alleged publication on Lauratta Onochie’s twitter handle on 7^th May, 2019, titled “Atiku on UAE  watch list – Security sources.”

According to Dr. Mike Ozekhome, head of Chambers, the said publication against Atiku Abubakar is vile, baseless, false and malicious.

Atiku’s letter to Lauretta Onochie through his lawyers reads:

“We have our client’s instructions to demand and we hereby demand from you the following: That you publish and tender a written retraction and apology for the said libellous publication in six national dailies circulating in Nigeria and one international daily as well as on all social media platforms wherein the said publication was made.

“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.