IG Adamu threatens Sahara Reporters with N10bn damages suit

The Inspector-General (I-G) of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on Thursday, threatened to sue Sahara Reporters and its publisher, Mr Omoyele Sowore, over a publication considered to be defamatory if a retraction was not published within seven days.

Adamu denied the said report in a letter signed by his Lawyer, Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, which was sent to the U.S. address of Sahara Reporters and a copy made available to journalists in Abuja.

The online platform had, on Aug. 3, published a report in which the I-G was alleged to have involved in a multi-billion naira fraudulent scheme by illegally raising funds to build Police Training School in Nasarawa State.

The police boss, therefore, demanded from Sahara Reporters “a written and unequivocal retraction with an apology carried with the same prominence” on its platform and three national dailies.

He also threatened that “a formal criminal complaint to relevant agencies” could be filed “without further correspondence” if his demands were not acceded to within the seven days’ period.

The letter reads in part: “Our client hasten to inform you that these defamatory words in your said publications are farrago of lies, concoctions all calculated by you to bring our client to the lowest contempt as they are a product of you and your online publication to achieve your premeditated blackmail, dubious and diabolical ends.

“We would not waste our energy here but reserve it at the appropriate.”

He stated that the words used in the report “are untrue, fallacious,” noting that Sahara Reporters did seek the his response “to get a balanced and robust view to the runs of the mills.”