Mr. Tayo Ayinde, the Chief of Staff to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has withdrawn his threat of legal action against Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland.
Ayinde “has given consideration to your (Adams’) letter dated Monday, March 25, 2024, in response to my letter of March 20, 2024, on his behalf, to your client, Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland,” according to a letter written by Ayinde’s attorney, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), dated Wednesday, March 27, 2024, and addressed to Adams’ attorneys, OKC Attorneys.
According to reports on Tuesday, Ayinde and Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, the agitators for the Yoruba Nation, had threatened to take Adams to court after Adams had allegedly accused them of plotting an assassination.In separate pre-action letters, the attorneys for Igboho and Ayinde demanded that Adams withdraw the assassination claim against them, failing which they would take him to court.
Through his attorney, Olumide-Fusika, Ayinde complained in the pre-action letter dated March 20, 2024, about a note that went viral and purportedly contained Adams saying, in Yoruba, “So, be careful associating with Igboho.” He was with the chief of staff of Lagos State Governor Tayo Ayinde just last night.
He received a high salary. You are aware that, as Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, I possess a vast intelligence network. He was with Tayo Ayinde, the Chief of Staff of the Lagos State Governor, until approximately 2:45 am. Tinubu uses Ayinde in Lagos to organize the carrying out of his nefarious schemes. Since his time in the SSS, he has been providing Tinubu with work of that kind.
“He left the SSS, Ibadan to focus entirely on this work for Tinubu, who gave him the position of Chief of Staff to the Governor of Lagos State in exchange. Igboho went to see him at his hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, to get money for the logistics of going up against me. In order to attend this meeting, which ended at roughly 2:45 am, Igboho left Lagos at around midnight.”Tayo Ayinde gave N45 million in cash to Igboho for the operation, depriving Igboho of N5 million from the N50 million purse that Tinubu had provided.
” The realization of this has caused disillusionment among them.Adams, however, called the voice note “distorted” in a statement released on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi.In addition, he called the lawsuit threats from Ayinde and Igboho “a grand conspiracy” to discredit him and declared that he would stop at nothing to preserve his well-earned reputation and the office he represented.”First of all, our client disputes the content and conclusions you made in your letter under reference regarding the purported audio clip you linked to our client,” Adams’ attorney stated.
As mentioned in your letter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (also known as “Sunday Ighoho”), not our client, published and extensively disseminated the purported video clip’s content, which is a contrived, distorted, and fragmented portion of a private conversation between our client and another individual in 2021.
Following the path of peace, Ayinde’s attorney responded to Adams by saying that his client would let the matter rest and that he understood that Adams had denied responsibility for the viral voice note.
According to Olumide-Fusika, “Your client’s understanding of the content of your letter is that your client denies responsibility for the distribution of the audio clip; views the content thereof as a ‘concocted, distorted, and disjointed part of a private conversation’ he had with ‘another person in 2021’; blames the individual named in your letter for the ‘concoction’ and ‘distortion’ by ‘disjointedness’ he believes the audio clip in circulation has wrought to the true context of the private conversation between him and the unnamed other; and neither meant nor intended the defamatory imputations complained of against him by his utterances in the ‘concocted, distorted, and disjointed’ audio clip, given that he made them in the context of ‘rumoured and unconfirmed information that he found difficult to believe.
“In this case, my client will let the matter rest unless you disagree with what has been summarized as his understanding of what you were asked to convey to him by your client.”Although Ayinde would not harbor animosity toward anyone for exercising their rights, he stated that it was his justifiable anticipation that those who did so—including Adams—would adhere to justice, truth, and the public interest as the highest priority.
Oluwole Kehinde, Adams’ attorney, also responded, thanking the CoS for dropping Ayinde’s claim in a letter dated Thursday and sent to Ayinde’s attorney.Oluwole wrote, “Your client’s decision to drop his claim against him (Adams) and your candor are greatly appreciated by our client.”
The advice provided by your client is also highly regarded. Thank you so much for your understanding.