Lawyers to former Minister of State for Defence and one time Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, have written a letter to the publishers of online news platform Sahara Reporters informing them of the filing of contempt charges against them in court.
In a letter that emanated from one of the partners of Lagos law firm MJS Partners, Dr. Yemi Oke on behalf of MJS Partners wrote to the publishers of Sahara Reporters via their Ilaje street in Bariga address to inform the publisher Yele Sowore that they had filed court processes for his committal to prison for contempt of the court of Justice
Sahara Reporters had on February 5 last year published a story that claimed Obanikoro and several others had rigged the Ekiti elections that ushered in the PDP government of Governor Ayo Fayose. Obanikoro’s lawyers had sued Sahara Reporters for defamation shortly afterwards both in New York where the online news platform is registered as well as in Lagos.
The fresh charges filed by the lawyers are connected to yet another story published by Sahara Reporters in December last year claiming that Obanikoro was under investigation by the EFCC and that he was on the run – a claim which Obanikoro’s lawyers insist has no truth in it.
Obanikoro through his lawyers’ letter made clear that he does not own any property anywhere outside Nigeria and is not in any way connected to any of the companies listed by SR as under investigation by EFCC in relation to Obanikoro.
The letter also insists that Obanikoro is not on the run and was offered admission into several foreign universities before the end of the last Government’s tenure.
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