Oyo SDP Guber Candidate, Lana, Demands N5bn from Party Chair for Defamation

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan 

The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the last election, Mr. Michael Lana, has demanded N5 billion from the state Chairman of the party, Mr. Michael Okunlade, for defamation and inciting statements.

Lana, in a letter dated March 20 by his counsel, Ola Adeosun, and addressed to Okunlade, said he defamed his character in an interview he granted a national newspaper by accusing him of collecting money from Governor Seyi Makinde in order to support him for his re-election bid. 

He added that in the interview, which circulated in an online newspaper based in Ibadan on the internet spaces around the world and on various social media platforms, Okunlade described him as a rogue lacking in integrity, adding that he knew that the assertion was false.

Lana in the letter titled: ‘Publication and Circulation of Defamatory and Inciting Statements against Mr. Michael Folorunsho Lana. Demand for retraction and payment of compensation’, stated further that apart from misinforming the general public, most especially the mass of young lawyers and younger generation of politicians who see him as a role model in terms of integrity in the interview, he painted him as a corrupt and irresponsible person that cannot be trusted by anybody. 

According to him, it is important for Okunlade to know that in passing out information on anybody, such must be factual, credible and truthful, adding that hence he must pay for his indiscretions.

The SDP gubernatorial candidate while insisting on dragging him to court within three days of receiving the letter and meeting his demands, then demanded a retraction of the offensive statements to be published in a national daily newspaper, the internet and prominent social media platforms.