2023: Buhari’s Nephew, Sabiu Tunde Speaks On Working Against Tinubu

A nephew and close aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Sabiu Tunde has denied allegations of working against the 2023 ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Tunde described the allegations against him as made-up, concocted, fabricated, fictitious, and deliberately erroneous.

The presidential aide said this while reacting to a submission by the convener of North-South Progressive Alliance, Alwan Hassan who said on Monday during a Channels TV interview that Tunde was taking advantage of his closeness to President Buhari to sabotage Tinubu’s presidential ambition.

“There is this kid called Sabi’u Tunde, he is the only one doing all these things.

“So he is trying to use that opportunity because he is very close to the president, he could manipulate everything or anything he wants to. It is just sad that a boy of that age will be doing all these things without looking at examples of other people that had done these things and where are they today.

“Everything that is happening on these Naira notes is Sabiu Tunde.

“He has spoken to a lot of people. He has told people that he is hell-bent on making sure we don’t win elections and that Asiwaju doesn’t win elections,” Hassan had said.

However, in a letter dated February 8 and addressed to Hassan, Tunde through his lawyers, Wole Olanipekun & Co, accused Hassan of damaging his reputation with his submissions during the TV interview.

While denying the allegations against him, the presidential aide also asked Hassan to pay N5 billion as damages for defamation and tender a public apology.

The letter reads: “Our client denies the allegations and references to him contained in your publications as made-up, concocted, fabricated, fictitious and deliberately erroneous,” the letter read.

“Your said publication was/is intended to reduce our client’s estimation in the eyes of well-meaning people. “Presumably, your actions towards our client were eventuated by bad faith, spite and hatred.

“Our client’s reputation has been seriously damaged, and he has also suffered considerable distress and embarrassment. This is more so that, issues in respect of which you publicly laid the blame at the doorstep of our client are those which have garnered national attention and, in some reported instances, led to violent protests. Thus, your actions, in fact, put our client at risk of physical harm.”

You Have 21 Days

The letter from the lawyers gave Hassan a timeframe of 21 days to comply with the demands of their client.

Hassan was told to give “an unequivocal retraction of all allegations published by you about our client in the course of the above referenced telecast.

“A public apology to our client to be issued vide the same channel(s) through which you published the initial defamatory remarks.

“Both the retraction and public apology should be published in at least four newspapers with coverage and circulation across all geo-political zones in Nigeria.

“In the event that you do not comply with our client’s above legitimate demands within 21 days of receipt of this letter, our client reserves the right to resort to all means legally permissible under various laws which you are subject to municipally and globally to seek the appropriate redress relating to the unwarranted attacks on his person and ascription of derogatory falsehood to his character by you.”