PUNCH
The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has warned against what he termed as deliberate efforts by some individuals to drag his name in the mud, saying his silence should not be taken for cowardice.
Adams, while speaking on the controversy generated by an audio clip, said he was ready to set the records straight on the various questions hanging in the balance on the alleged defamation contained in the clips which he said was “concocted, distorted, and disjointed.”
The PUNCH had reported Tuesday that Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho; and the Chief of Staff to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Mr Tayo Ayinde, had both threatened to drag the Aare Ona Kakanfo, Iba Gani Adams, to court for allegedly accusing them of plotting an assassination.
Igboho and Ayinde, in separate pre-action letters by their lawyers, demanded that Adams should retract the said assassination claim against them or they would drag him to court.
In a March 20, 2024 pre-action letter, Ayinde, through his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), complained about a viral note, in which Adams was allegedly heard saying in Yoruba language: “So, be careful associating with Igboho. Just last night, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff. He was heavily paid. You know that I have an extensive intelligence network as Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. Until about 2:45 am, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff, who Tinubu also uses in Lagos to coordinate the execution of his evil machinations. He has been doing work of that nature for Tinubu since his days in the SSS.
“He resigned from the SSS, Ibadan to concentrate fully on such work for Tinubu, who compensated him with the office of Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor. It was at his hotel somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos, that Igboho visited him to collect money for logistics to confront me. Igboho left lbadan at about midnight to attend this meeting which ended at about 2:45am.
“Tayo Ayinde gave N45m in cash to Igboho for the operation, thus shortchanging Igboho to the tune of N5m out of the N50m purse provided by Tinubu. The discovery of this has brewed disenchantment in their midst.”
However, in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, Adams described the voice note as distorted.
He also described the threat of lawsuits by Igboho and Ayinde as “a grand conspiracy” to discredit his person, saying he was ready to do everything to protect his hard-earned name and the office he represented.
In the statement titled ‘Don’t take my silence for cowardice, Gani Adams speaks on alleged defamation of character,’ he said his reaction became pertinent as it had become evident “that Igboho and Ayinde were not ready to toe the line of peace as initiated by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.”
Adams therefore in a rejoinder to Olumide-Fusika’s pre-action letter, written by his lawyers, Oluwole Kehinde and Rosemary Thompson, dated Monday but obtained by The PUNCH on Tuesday, denied the content and inferences drawn by Ayinde’s lawyer in the audio clip.
