By Henry Umoru

The Vice Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC and former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has threatened legal action against Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, demanding a retraction and apology over what he described as alleged defamatory comments made against him.

In a legal notice issued through his lawyers and made public by his media aide, Hon. Saifullahi Hassan, Kwankwaso who warned that he would seek N10 billion in damages if the cleric fails to retract the statements within 24 hours, the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP said that Ayodele allegedly described him as “fake to Obi,” just as the Primate had claimed that he alleged that he had been paid to accept the vice-presidential position on the NDC ticket.

The letter, dated June 11, 2026, accused Primate Ayodele of making “false, malicious and defamatory” remarks during a public sermon that was reportedly livestreamed and widely circulated on social media and news platforms.

Defending the former Kano State governor’s reputation, the legal team in the letter stressed that Kwankwaso had spent decades building a record of public service and political leadership, serving as governor, minister, senator, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, presidential candidate and now vice-presidential candidate.

The letter stated thus, “Our client’s attention has been drawn to your viral publication which is trending on all social media platforms and in international and local news outlets, wherein you published malicious and defamatory contents against him geared toward tarnishing his long-earned reputation in Nigeria and beyond.”

The team further argued that the comments portrayed Kwankwaso as deceitful, insincere and politically unreliable, with the potential to damage both his personal reputation and unity within the NDC., just as they said that the allegations were “deliberate, premeditated, false, unprovoked, grossly unfounded and unsubstantiated.”

In the legal team’s demands, they stated that the legal notice called on Primate Ayodele to publish a full and unequivocal retraction and apology across all platforms where the statements appeared, ensuring that the correction receives the same prominence as the original publication.

The lawyers also requested a written undertaking that the cleric would refrain from making or republishing similar statements in the future.

The letter warned that failure to comply within the stipulated period would leave Kwankwaso with no option but to institute legal proceedings seeking N10 billion damages, legal costs and other reliefs that will deem appropriate by the court.

Vanguard News

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