Defamation: Omisore sues EFCC for N10bn

 

Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former deputy Governor of Osun State, has dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, over alleged defamation, asking for N10bn as damages. Omisore, who said the commission erred by declaring him wanted, is also seeking an order restraining the EFCC from further publishing any libelous publication against him.

A statement by Diran Odeyemi, spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, claimed the plaintiff joined the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren as the second defendant. “The defendants damaged his good reputation by allegedly concocting falsehood against him and portraying him as somebody who could not be trusted in an advertorial published in The Nation newspaper of May 18, 2016,” the statement claimed.

It would be recalled that EFCC declared Omisore wanted after he refused to honour its invitation in a case of receiving and misappropriation of over N700m between June–November 2014 from the office of the National Security Adviser. But the Senator said a court had restrained the EFCC from arresting him.

He argued that the advertorial that newspapers published portrayed him as a dishonest person, who was seeking to evade the law. He explained that sometime in 2014, Fimex Gilt Ltd. presented some proposals to the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) on some security services it could render towards combating the scourge of terrorism and influx of terrorists into the country.