Fayemi threatens legal suit over accusations of bribery on $418m Paris Club refund

The Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has revealed an imminent lawsuit against the owner of Panic Alert Security System Limited, George Uboh.

Uboh had accused the governor of demanding 10 per cent from the $418m judgment debts purportedly owed by states and their local governments in securing the Paris Club refunds.

Fayemi, in a letter signed by his lawyer’s firm, Akinboro & Co, described the allegation as false and calculated to cause him to be exposed to ridicule before his colleagues in the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Nigerians, and others worldwide.

He also noted that the allegation had caused him to suffer severe humiliation, mental and emotional anguish.

The judgment debts had risen from various court judgments ordering some contractors and consultants to be paid for certain services and projects executed for the various states and the 774 Local Government Areas.

Some of the claimants were said to be consultants engaged by the states and local governments to secure recovery of funds over-deducted from their allocations between 1995 and 2002 to service the then London and Paris Club loans.

Uboh’s firm was laying claim to $47,831,920 based on a consent judgment it obtained in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/123/2018.

Fayemi, however, demanded a forensic audit of the contracts leading to the judgment and the entire indebtedness.

Uboh, via an online medium, alleged that the governor demanded 10 per cent from the judgement creditors.

Read also: Again, Fayemi refuses to deny reports of eyeing 2023 Presidency

Furthermore, he accused Fayemi of drafting an MoU for the creditors to sign an agreement binding Fayemi not to oppose the payment of the judgement sum to the creditors.

The governor, in the letter, demanded Uboh to retract the publication from his online medium and other platforms and to publish an open apology for seven days with a demand of N5bn.

“It is clear that your story is a fabricated one considering that you could not even mention the names of the proxies whom you claimed our client sent to you, neither could you produced the purported communications with your phantom or supposed proxy X showed you on his phone.

“Our client is firmly of the view that if at all the persons you referred to as proxies X and Y exist (which are not conceded) they only exist in your warped or perverted imagination.

“Accordingly, we hereby, demand the immediate retraction of the publication of 31st March 2021, from your online and other platform (s) and to publish forthwith on daily basis for seven days an open apology to our client and the NGF for the false and malicious publication.

“In addition, we demand from you the immediate payment of the sum of N5bn to our client for the utterly false and malicious publication,” the letter by Fayemi reads in part.

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