Sabiu Tunde, a nephew and close aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, has refuted claims that he conspired to thwart Bola Tinubu’s bid for the presidency of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
The presidential aide said that the accusations against him were “made-up, concocted, fabricated, fictitious, and deliberately erroneous.” He was responding to Alwan Hassan, the convener of the North-South Progressive Alliance, who claimed that Tunde was sabotaging Tinubu’s bid for the presidency by taking advantage of his close relationship with President Buhari.
“There is this kid called Sabi’u Tunde, he is the only one doing all these things.
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“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.
Hassan was accused by Tunde, through his attorneys Wole Olanipekun & Co., of harming his reputation with his statements made during the TV interview in a letter dated February 8 and addressed to Hassan.
In addition to rejecting the accusations made against him, the presidential adviser demanded that Hassan pay N5 billion in defamation damages and issue a formal public apology.
According to the letter, “Our client disputes the charges and references to him contained in your publications as made-up, created, manufactured, false, and intentionally incorrect.”
“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.”