Rex Institute, alleged property owner of the controversial Next Level Logo which the All Progressive Congress (APC) used at the start of its campaign for the 2019 election, has threatened a legal action.

During the official flag-off campaign of the APC, the party presented its manifesto tagged ‘Next Level’.

Few hours after the launch, President Muhammadu Buhari who is seeking re-election tweeted a photo of him and his running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, made by a cartoonist, leading Nigerians to greater heights. The photo also had the ‘Next Level’ logo at the top heading.

Hours after Buhari tweeted the photo, a screenshot bearing a similar logo emerged, indicating the one being promoted by the President was plagiarised.

Although, Festus Keyamo, the director general of strategic communications of the president’s campaign organisation, recently dismissed the logo promoted by the president as the handiwork of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some Nigerians are asking why their leader should use the property of the opposition for campaign.

In a letter dated November 19, 2018 and addressed to the National Legal Adviser at 40 Blantyre Cres. Wuse 2 Abuja, Nigeria, the owners of the logo issued an ultimatum advising the ruling party to withdraw all campaign materials bearing the logo.

“Dear Sir Without prejudice, it has come to our attention that the All Progressives Congress Party of Nigeria has stolen the intellectual property right of our client, The Rex Institute,” the letter seen by Daily Post read.

“As you can see from the attached visuals, the logo your Party has just unveiled and which is being promoted by the Leader of the Party and the President of Nigeria on his Twitter feed is a direct copy of that of our client, with just a small colour change in the arrow.

“However, every other element from the name, font and design is identical. In fact, in my entire legal career, I have never seen such a blatant piece of plagiarism.

“We, therefore, demand that you immediately cease and desist in any use of the logo and make every effort to recall and destroy all materials which have already been disseminated.

“Failure to do so within 7 days will leave our client with no other option but to seek full legal redress via the Nigerian Courts. I look forward to your immediate reply. Yours faithfully Sue Lavache Attorney at Law,” it added.

As at the time of filling this report, checks by POLITICS TIMES on the verified twitter handle of the President showed the controversial tweet was still not deleted.