Ex-banker, Olushakin, seeks N1bn damages from ThisDay Newspaper for alleged defamation 

A former banker and businessman Femi Olushakin has demanded N1 billion in damages from ThisDay Newspaper over an alleged defamatory publication about him. 

Olushakin, who is the Managing Director of LAC Auto & Spare Ltd. made the demand based on a story published by the newspaper on its online platform on December 22, 2024. The story stated that Olushakin, along with two other persons, were arraigned at a magistrate court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for allegedly robbing Global Signature Hotel located on Old Ife Road in the city. 

But Olushakin, through his lawyer Oluwadamilare Awokoya, faulted the publication, saying it was “contrived in mendacity, falsehood, mischief and perfidy as it is concocted to defame our client, deceive the general public and to set the general public against our client. We take exceptions to the jaundiced information, slur and disparaging remarks used against the person of our Client.”

Asides the demand for N1 billion damages, Olushakin who also demanded a retraction of the story and publication of an apology in the same newspaper and two others, explained that he only went to take over the running of the hotel as stated in a transaction agreement with the owner Dr Henry Akinduro.

The demand, which was published as an advertorial in The Nation Newspaper on December 24, further faulted claims that the Oyo State Police Command had placed a bounty of N5 million on Olushakin for information that could lead to his arrest. 

The notice stated that the publication had “caused irreparable damage to his reputation as a respectable business man, and was calculated to set the public against him”. 

The demand read in part: 

“We have been briefed and our legal services retained by Mr. Olufemi Olushakin (our client), a respectable and responsible citizen of Nigeria, and it is in that capacity and on his behalf and instruction that we forward this correspondence to your office.

It is our brief that: “Our Client informed us that he was inundated in the early hours of today, 22nd day of December, 2024 with influx of messages and calls from his friends and business associates with respect to the news from your news outlet with the above caption. He meticulously perused the report and found that he was the one referred to in the said report and his picture was also displayed in the Report.

The excerpt of the said Report states thus:

“A former banker turned businessman, Olufemi Olalekan Olushakin alongside two others have been charged before the Chief Magistrate Court in Ibadan, Oyo State for alleged robbery…

The Police Prosecutor, Inspector Kefas Usman told the court that Olushakin – a former branch manager with a second generation bank and now Chairman of LAC Autos &Spare Ltd. – alongside Akanbi, Adewale and others on the night of Friday December 13, 2024 allegedly forcefully gained entrance into Global Signature Hotel in Ibadan by disarming the security men at the gate.

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“After vandalizing it, they went to the POS machine, took the machines of the company, went to the manager of the hotel, one Dare Akinola, at gun point took him to the cash registry to collect all the sales of the week including room sales, lodgement, bar and hall payment totaling over N2,140,000 (Two million, One hundred and forty thousand Naira)…’

“The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Giwa Babalola, ordered that the suspects should be remanded at the Agodi Correctional Center in Ibadan. She adjourned the case till January, 29, 2025 for further mention.

“However, following Olushakin’s absence during the arraignment, the Oyo State Police Command has launched a manhunt for him with a bounty of N5 million placed on him for anybody with useful information leading to arrest.”

The lawyers further said “The above Report is contrived in mendacity, falsehood, mischief and perfidy as it is concocted to defame our client, deceive the general public and to set the general public against our client. We take exceptions to the jaundiced information, slur and disparaging remarks used against the person of our Client. 

“Dr. Henry Akinduro of Total Grace Group Ltd breached the Investment Agreement voluntarily executed between him and our Client running to the sum of N700,000,000:00k (Seven Hundred Million Naira). The understanding is that in the circumstances, a receiver manager can take over collateral, which is the Global Signature Hotel situate, lying and being at Kilometre 7, Cele Bus Stop, beside Enyo Filling Station, old Ife Road, Ibadan, Egbeda Local Government

Area, Oyo State of Nigeria and which was alleged to be robbed by our Client, for the purpose of realizing the outstanding obligation without recourse to Court.

“Our Client informed us that he explored his options in the Agreement upon which the Hotel was handed over to a receiver manager by Akinola Dare who was acting for and on behalf of Dr Henry Akinduro. Our Client is a responsible man and a reputable businessman in Nigeria and abroad. Our Client has complete fidelity to the law of the land and he does not engage in commission of crime.

“Going back to your Report, it is apparent that the Report is jaundiced and not a product of investigative journalism. It is also clear that the mistruth in the said publication, which established the mischief, evinced that neither your Company nor any member of your staff was present at Magistrate Court 1, Ibadan Magisterial District, Iyaganku, Ibadan when the proceedings took place. From the headline, it was apparent that your misconception of facts was ostensibly clear. Mr. Ayomide Akanbi, Mr. David Adewole and our Client were not arraigned in the Court if it is to go by what arraignment means under the law. They were only brought to Court on holding charge, which has been rendered unconstitutional, in order for them to be remanded in the correctional facility.

“There was no time during the court proceedings that Police Prosecutor, Inspector Kefas Usman made any statement to the Court on that day. We then wondered where you got your facts that Inspector Kefas told the court, inter alia, that our Client alongside Akanbi, Adewale and others on the night of Friday December 13, 2024 allegedly forcefully gained entrance into Global Signature Hotel in Ibadan by disarming the security men at the gate and also that our client together with Ayomide Akanbi and Mr. David Adewole were armed with gun.

“Your seemingly distortion of facts in your report was further established when you stated that the Oyo State Police Command has launched a manhunt for our Client with a bounty of N5 million placed on him for anybody with useful information. Our client was never invited by the Police and we wonder on what basis he would be declared wanted. It is Dr. Henry Akinduro who is needed at the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that should toe the path of honour and go and answer to the allegations against him.

“Your company’s mischief was also crystallized when you stated in your Report that: “the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Giwa Babalola, ordered that the suspects should be remanded at the Agodi Correctional Center in Ibadan.

“For your information, the proceeding of the day was not conducted by His Worship, Mrs. Giwa Babalola, but by His Worship, Mrs. O. O. Ogunkanmi (Chief Magistrate 1).

“Your media report with respect to above caption released to the public on the 22nd day of December, 2024 is, beyond doubt, defamatory and has caused our Client so much damage. There is no way you can keep up, in this instance, in an intellectual joust in defence of the indefensible. The indiscretion with which the defamatory publication was authored is irredeemable. 

“In the light of the foregoing, we demand for an immediate and unequivocal retraction of the defamatory statements made by you against our Client and immediately cause an unreserved apology to our Client published in your News Outlet and Two (2) other national dailies and immediate payment of

N1,000,000,000:00k (One Billion Naira) to our Client for the damage caused to him within the next Twenty Four (24) hours of the receipt of this correspondence. TAKE NOTICE that failure to accede to the instant request of our Client herein, and within the NEXT TWENTY FOUR (24) HOURS of the receipt of this correspondence, we would be left with no option but to utilize every other necessary legal means available to our Client.”

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