The Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has filed a N15 billion defamation lawsuit against political activist Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja.​
The legal action follows allegations made by Adeyemi accusing the Chief of Staff of demanding a massive 48 percent kickback from a N27.3 billion federal take-off grant. Prince Adeyemi publicly claimed that Mr. Gbajabiamila solicited a nearly half-way split (48%) of a N27.3 billion take-off grant earmarked for a newly established federal agency.
In the writ of summons filed on Thursday, Gbajabiamila’s legal team characterized the allegations as malicious, entirely fabricated, and calculated to ruin his decades of public service reputation.
The plaintiff is demanding N15 billion in general damages, alongside a permanent injunction restraining Adeyemi from publishing further defamatory statements.
​The controversy reportedly stems from the disbursement of a N27.3 billion take-off grant approved by the presidency for a vital federal agency earlier this year.
According to court documents, Gbajabiamila maintains that he acted strictly within his administrative boundaries and that the defendant’s claims are “the handiwork of political detractors.
“​The FCT High Court is expected to fix a date for the mention of the case in the coming weeks, as the defendant’s legal team prepares to respond to the summons.
