The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, said that some people were making deliberate efforts to soil his name in the mud, and warned them not to his acquiesce for cowardice.
Adams, while breaking his silence on the controversy generated by an audio clip which purportedly portrayed him as alleging assassination plot, said he was ready to clarify the matter on the claim of of defamation in the video clips which he said was “concocted, distorted, and disjointed.”
The Daily Crucible had on Tuesday in a report titled, ‘Igboho, Gani Adams On Collision Course,’ reported that the leaders of the pan-Yoruba organization had on Saturday appealed to Iba Gani Adams and Igboho to sheath their swords to ensure peace in Yoruba land.
YAF, in a statement signed by the chairman, Chief Onitolo-Ariyo Adejare, and the secretary, Comrade Adedeji Oluwaseun, described the unity of the Yoruba as the best weapon to fight common enemies.
The YAF chieftains also added that Yoruba sons and daughters, both at home and in the diaspora were worried about the ongoing social media attacks between loyalists of Iba Gani Adams and that of Sunday Igboho and urged the duo to toe the path of peace, also describing those circulating the viral audio content across many social media platforms as enemies of the Yoruba race.
But in separate pre-action letters by their lawyers, Igboho and Ayinde, were embarking on war path with Iba Gani Adams, as the two asked him to retract the said assassination claim against them or they would drag him to court, but Adams initially declined comments on the issue.
In a March 20, 2024 pre-action letter, Ayinde’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), demanded that Adams should retract the allegation “without any need on my client’s part to press you further on the subject.”
Olumide-Fusika said the pre-action letter was informed by the content of a press release issued by Igboho, titled: “I did not take part in killing Chief Bola Ige…”
According to Olumide-Fusika, Igboho said the press release was in reaction to some allegations against him in a viral voice note made by Adams.
Olumide-Fusika said, “In the press release, Chief Sunday Adeyemo claimed to be reacting to ‘issues raised by the voice notes going around on social media released by Aare Gani Adams,’ which ‘attacked his character’.”
The lawyer said his client’s name was mentioned in Igboho’s press release, a situation that had made many people from within and outside Nigeria to inundate him with phone calls, prompting him to go and listen to the said voice note.
According to Olumide-Fusika, the 10th paragraph of Igboho’s press release suggested that Adams claimed that Ayinde hired Igboho to assassinate him (Adams).
According to Olumide-Fusika, Adams, in a viral voice note, was allegedly heard saying in Yoruba language: “I would send you a letter signed and sent by these people to Tinubu, imploring him to stop wasting time and give them the go-ahead to eliminate me (Adams). The letter was signed by them and sent to Tinubu’s Bourdillon address, and it was received there. Those are the characters in the circle of this thoughtless fellow; he covets their association. My enemy’s friend is my enemy. He (Igboho) says we should combine forces to liberate our people, but he is in bed with enemies of our cause.
“So, be careful associating with Igboho. Just last night, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff. He was heavily paid. You know that I have an extensive intelligence network as Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. Until about 2:45am, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff, who Tinubu also uses in Lagos to coordinate the execution of his evil machinations. He has been doing work of that nature for Tinubu since his days in the SSS.
“He resigned from the SSS, Ibadan to concentrate fully on such work for Tinubu, who compensated him with the office of Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor. It was at his hotel somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos, that Igboho visited him to collect money for logistics to confront me. Igboho left lbadan at about midnight to attend this meeting which ended at about 2:45am.
“Tayo Ayinde gave N45m in cash to Igboho for the operation, thus shortchanging Igboho to the tune of N5m out of the N50m purse provided by Tinubu. The discovery of this has brewed disenchantment in their midst.”
In the pre-action letter written on Ayinde’s behalf, Olumide-Fusika described the alleged claims by Adams as injurious to the person of his client, asking the Aare Ona Kakanfo to retract the same.
The lawyer said, “You will agree with me that the imputations in the above are as serious and damaging, as those who have listened to the ‘voice notes’ have represented it to my client by their telephone calls and visits. It includes that my client is complicit in a conspiracy to murder you (Adams), and is in fact the coordinator of the phantom operation.
“Given your own experience in life, I am sure you will appreciate how painful it is to be unjustly accused, as you have done in this instance against my client.”
The lawyer added, “My instructions are, therefore, to respectfully demand that you retract the false and wicked allegation, either through another voice note to go round the same social media, or by a press release referencing and recanting the allegation.
“I do believe that this gentlemanly request will be voluntarily heeded by you without any on my client’s part to press you further on the subject.”
On his part, Igboho in a letter by his lawyer, J.A. Sanusi, dated March 18, 2024, addressed to Adams, stated that he had been inundated with several calls “over the unfortunate lies peddled by you (Adams) against him (our client).”
The lawyer, on behalf of Igboho, said the people of Nigeria world over wished to confirm the veracity of the said “malicious interview or phone calls you (Adams) had with a person unknown that has become subject of public embarrassment and caused serious odium against the person of our client.”
The letter, which asked Adams to retract the allegations, also demanded the sum of N500m in compensation.
It partly read, “You (Adams) are aware that there is an audio clip which is presently going viral on all new media platforms where you have alleged the following against our client (Sunday Igboho) viz:
“That our client is an assassin who used to work for His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That our client is rumoured to be one of the persons that assassinated the late Chief Bola Ige, SAN, together with one Fryo.
“That our client was involved in a series of murder cases but escaped prosecution as a result of his political connection.
“That our client received the sum of Forty-Five Million Naira (N45,000,000.00) sometime in 2022 to carry out some dirty works for His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR; and
“That our client swindled Nigerians in diaspora for a fake self-determination agenda of the Yoruba race.”
Sanusi said Igboho wished to inform Adams “that the malicious lies against our client only exist in the figment of your imagination as our client is a law-abiding citizen, whose only offence at the time was to protect the interest of the Yoruba race, a responsibility which you were ordinarily saddled to discharge but failed to so do.”
He stressed that the false outburst had not only caused embarrassment but also economic losses to Igboho.
He stated further, “It is in the light of the above that we call on you to forthwith retract all the negative comments (highly defamatory too) made against the person of our client which has just been released to the social media, including YouTube platform.”
The lawyer said Igboho would be seeking redress in the court should Adams fail to meet his demands.
However, in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, Adams described the voice note as distorted.
He also described the threat of lawsuits by Igboho and Ayinde as “a grand conspiracy” to discredit his person, saying he was ready to do everything to protect his hard-earned name and the office he represented.
In the statement titled ‘Don’t take my silence for cowardice, Gani Adams speaks on alleged defamation of character,’ he said his reaction became pertinent as it had become evident “that Igboho and Ayinde were not ready to toe the line of peace as initiated by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.”
Adams therefore in a rejoinder to Olumide-Fusika’s pre-action letter, written by his lawyers, Oluwole Kehinde and Rosemary Thompson, dated Monday but obtained by The PUNCH on Tuesday, denied the content and inferences drawn by Ayinde’s lawyer in the audio clip.
The letter partly read, “Firstly, our client denies the content and inferences drawn by you in your letter under reference regarding the alleged audio clip you attributed to our client. As stated in your letter, the content of the alleged video clip, which is a concocted, distorted, and disjointed part of a private conversation between our client and another person in 2021, was published and widely circulated by one Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Alias ‘Sunday Ighoho’) and not our client.”
It also said, “Furthermore, it is obvious from the alleged defamatory remarks that our client mentioned that it was a ‘rumoured and unconfirmed information that he found difficult to believe’ and could not be shared publicly. Thus, there is no element of malice on the part of our client pertaining to the alleged statement attributed to him in the said video clip.
“The reason for my silence in the midst of the various legal and media infractions by Igboho and Ayinde, was not because I am a coward, but because of the initial interventions of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, other prominent Obas and several other important personalities in Yorubaland.
“But with the ongoing lies and aspersions against my person, I think it is time for me to come out open and set the record straight.
“Though my legal team has done what was required of them, I need to state clearly that the audio clip generating the squabbles was a distorted and disjointed content of a private conversation which held way back in 2021 with a US-based younger brother of a friend.
“The conversation was initiated by the young man who claimed he wanted a reconciliation between myself, Igboho and some other people.
“It was while responding on reasons for reconciliation at the time that he mentioned the names of the two people.”
According Iba Adams, he made it clear repeatedly in the circulating video that though it was very difficult to believe, there was an unconfirmed rumour allegedly linking Igboho to the murder of the late Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
“My statement was not done in bad faith and it was purely a private conversation,” he added.
“However, on the issue of my brother, Tayo Ayinde, let me make it clear here that I repeatedly said that whatever was said was a rumour that couldn’t be substantiated or made public.”
