Clearing his name: Gov. Aregbesola’s son gives PDP chairman seven-day ultimatum

May 16, 2015



Kabiru Aregbesola, the eldest son of the Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has given the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa, a seven-day ultimatum to retract the publication linking him (Kabiru) to money laundering.

Ola-Oluwa had claimed earlier in the week that Kabiru was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The governor’s son promptly denied the allegation but has now asked for an unreserved apology.

[b]In a letter sent to the PDP chairman by Kabiru’s lawyer, Barrister Ajibola Basiru, the chairman was threatened with a lawsuit if he fails to do the needful.

“The retraction and apology must be done in at least two national dailies with wide circulation, and failure to publish the retraction with an apology within the said period may leave the client with no option but to seek legal redress with its attendant consequences.

“Your orchestrated lie had reduced the image of our client in the estimation of every right thinking member of the public and has also injured our client’s reputation and that of members of his families as you have portrayed him falsely as a money launderer.

“My client was never arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport for the offence of money laundering and was nowhere near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. He was not arrested at the airport or anywhere in the country at any time whatsoever.

“It may also interest you to know that our client has never been arrested anywhere in the country or outside the country for any offence since he was born. Our client is a young professional with a brilliant career,” the letter said.

The letter pointed out further that, “our client informed us that he received numerous calls from families and friends directing him to check a news publication in two national dailies with captions: “Osun Govt, PDP bicker over alleged arrest of Aregbesola’s son for attempted money laundering”, and “Osun denies Kabiru Aregbesola’s alleged arrest.”

“In the said publications, you (Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa) issued a statement on behalf of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) emphatically stating that our client was arrested at the departure wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with a lump sum of money that was not cleared but stocked in his luggage.”[/b]