Ighodalo To File ₦20 Billion Suit Against Oshiomhole Over ‘Defamatory Ponzi Scheme Claim’

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, on Monday, directed his lawyers to institute a suit against the senator representing Edo north, Adams Oshiomhole, over defamatory allegations.

According to Ighodalo, the former governor of the state had accused him of involvement in “Planwell,” a ponzi scheme that surfaced in Edo state in the early 1990s.

Oshiomole during a campaign rally on Saturday had said, “People of my age and even younger have not forgotten how Asue Ighodalo and all his associates were involved in what they call Planwell.

“Planwell was set up as an institution where you deposit 10,000 in the morning by tomorrow it becomes 15,000, and after six months, people were defrauded, and the institution disappeared. And they became rich, and Edo people became pauperised.”

In a response to the allegations through his counsel, Ayo Asala, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ighodalo described Oshiomole’s comment as “false, defamatory, and malicious”.

A letter by Ighodalo’s lawyer and addressed to Oshiomhole reads, “It is sad to note that despite your status as an elder and holder of a public office, you appear to have developed a pattern of spewing false statements in the public domain purely for the achievement of your political ends.

“This baseless, unfounded, false, and malicious allegation has become another in a long line of such defamatory fabrications and statements made by you in respect of our client in the recent past.

“Our client is an accomplished Nigerian legal practitioner and a corporate leader whose impressive resume from birth up till the current day is entirely in the public domain, and our client has absolutely no connection with and could never have been involved in any manner whatsoever with the purported ‘Planwell’ scheme with which you have seriously defamed our client’s reputation.

“It is clear that the fabrication of the unfounded and false story regarding the purported involvement of our client in the said ‘Planwell’ scheme or any other financial scheme whatsoever is a figment of your imagination and a story fabricated purely for the purpose of denigrating the good character and reputation of our client for the achievement of the political purpose of advancing the sinking fortunes of your political party and candidate in the forthcoming Edo state gubernatorial elections.

“Our client has been inundated with calls and other contacts from concerned members of the public who heard your said allegations on electronic and social media, as a result of which our client has suffered enormous unwarranted reputational damage arising from the lies and baseless fabrications of which you have become the purveyor.”

Ighodalo is demanding “an immediate and unqualified retraction and apology for your false, defamatory, and malicious statements, which should be published in at least two national television networks and three nationally circulating newspapers.

“Pay to our client damages in the sum of 20 billion Naira for your false, defamatory, and malicious statements referred to herein.

“Take notice that it is our client’s instructions that we immediately institute appropriate proceedings against you for damages in the sum of twenty (20) billion Naira (₦20,000,000,000.00) for your said false, malicious, irresponsible, and damaging statements made against our client without any foundation whatsoever in fact.

“Further take notice that such action will be instituted without further notice or correspondence to you in that regard whatsoever.”