The misunderstanding between the management of Media Trust Limited – the Publisher of Daily Trust and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, Tuesday, took a new shape as Fani Kayode demanded N6 billion for defamation of character.
This followed an article published on Daily Trust Newspapers on Sunday where the former Minister was reduced after an unpleasant encounter with him and one of the paper’s staff,Eyo Charles.
The article was titled ‘FFK, the Drug Addled Thug in Designer Wears”.
Theparrot.ng had earlier reported how the article was widely criticised by some people who feel the media house went too far by the attitude, despite that the erring minister had apologised.
Fani-Kayode in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of the newspaper dated August 31, 2020 and titled, ‘Defamation of the Character of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode by Iliyasu Gadu’ , demanded for settlement of N6 billion for defamation of character.
In his pre-litigation letter, Fani-Kayode described the article as libellous and demanded an apology from the newspaper, which must be published in other national dailies.
The former Minister also demanded that negotiation be entered into for the possible payment of N6 billion due to the irreparable loss the article had caused him.
It read in part: “Be aware that our client has not only suffered immeasurable loss of goodwill, he is currently confronted with unbearable opprobrium by his fans, followers, and colleagues across the globe.
“Our client is alive to his rights both in law and equity but is disposed to an opportunity to undo the evil you have done by retracting the said insalubrious remarks on the same platform it was published and apologising to him in two other national dailies.
“You are also advised to enter into negotiations with us for the sum of N6 billion being a token amount for penitence as opposed to the magnitude of infraction caused to our client’s nobility.”
The newspaper was given 14 days to comply with the demands in the letter or face legal action.
Fani-Kayode also wrote a similar letter to Gadu, who authored the letter.
