Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, asking him to probe into allegations that he collected N4bn from the suspended Chairman of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
Osinbajo had refuted the allegations as published by some online media Wednesday. He described them as “blatant falsehood” and “…campaign of calumny” against his person, The New Diplomat had reported.
But it appears dismissing the claims made in the reports were not enough as the Vice President on Thursday pushed for further actions.
The Vice President also demanded the probe of Mr. Jackson Ude, publisher of the online medium, Point Blank News where the report first appeared before hitting the social media.
In the petition, Osinbajo said the publication owned by Ude had in the past published malicious articles against his person.
Osinbajo said the articles were targeted at defaming his character and ridiculing him before members of the public, saying Ude had also likened him to alleged international fraudster, Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, by calling him ‘Hush-bajo’.
He called on the IG to probe Ude with a view to prosecuting him for criminal defamation.
The petition dated July 8, 2020, and titled, ‘Criminal Defamation of the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), GCON by Jackson Ude’ read in part: “These vicious and malicious publications are meant to achieve one objective only, to present to his readership and others (Nigerians and foreigners) that our client is a dishonest and disloyal public officer and consequently unfit for the position of Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria he is occupying.
“We are of the view that unless an action for criminal defamation is commenced against the said Mr. Jackson Ude, he will continue to use his social media platform to publish materials that are false and criminally defamatory of our client’s reputation.
“In view of the above, we humbly request that you cause the above allegations made against our client to be investigated and if the suggested investigation confirms our complaint of the falsehood of these allegations, to initiate criminal proceedings pursuant to the provisions of Sections 391-395 of the Penal Code Act for criminal defamation against the said Jackson Ude.”
Reacting to the petition, Ude said Osinbajo should resign before instituting legal proceedings against him.
Ude who is said to be a United States journalist wrote on Twitter.
He said:“I am not afraid of Osinbajo and his minions. If he indeed wants to go to court, he needs to resign first and sue me. He cannot be VP and be using state resources to intimidate the judiciary. He cannot wave immunity that he didn’t confer on himself. Osinbajo should resign first.”
