Defamation: I owe you no apology, APC chairman replies Ighodalo 

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State, Jarrett Tenebe, on Wednesday, said he stood by his allegation that the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, is corrupt and owes him no apology.

Tenebe disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja by his lawyer, Dr. Blessing Agbomhere.

Agbomhere, in the letter, said, “We further want to state unequivocally that our client did not defame your client in any way, and as such, there is no need for a public apology or retraction of comments made in the alleged video.

“But if your client decides to stretch this issue further by going to court, we will rely on the defence of justification in accordance with the report of the Edo State Vehicle Recovery Committee, whose report indicted your client and the preliminary report of the Edo State Asset Verification Committee.”

The Edo APC chair had, in a viral video on 10th December, accused Ighodalo of corruption and misappropriation of state funds in the wake of the gaffe made by Governor Monday Okpebholo during the presentation of his N605bn budget estimates to the Edo House of Assembly.

“I don’t know figures. You see, that is how to know original and innocent people. Obaseki will not make such a mistake because he has stolen billions before. Asue Ighodalo will not make such a mistake because he has stolen billions before,” Tenebe claimed in the video.

He also described Okpebholo’s gaffe as a normal thing, saying even former South African president Jacob Zuma made a similar mistake.

Reacting, Ighodalo’s legal counsels from Banwo and Ighodalo law firm in Lagos had, in a letter to Tenebe dated 11th December, demanded an apology and immediate retraction of the allegation within seven days.

But the APC chairman snubbed the demand his comments were justified following a preliminary report of the Edo State Asset Verification Committee and the Edo State Vehicle Recovery Committee that indicted Ighodalo, who was an economic adviser to former Governor Godwin Obaseki for eight years.