Leadership (Abuja)
Danladi Ndayebo
28 September 2007
Abuja — The last may not have been heard of the crisis of confidence currently rocking the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as the party's national chairman, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, has demanded the sum of N500 million from The Buhari Organisation (TBO).
Speaking the minds of party faithful sympathetic to the ANPP presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, national secretary of TBO, Engr. Buba Galadima, had reportedly made derogatory statements against Ume-Ezeoke in an interview published in the September 17 edition of the Daily Sun.
Galadima who is irked by the decision of the Ume-Ezeoke-led national working committee of the party to join the Government of National Unity (GNU) proposed by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was said to have described the ANPP boss as a mole recruited by former president Olusegun Obasanjo to rig the last general elections in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party.
But reacting through his lawyers, Chimezie Ikeazor (SAN) & Co, Ume-Ezeoke demanded Galadima to make the payment of N500 million as aggravated and exemplary damages and also tender an unreserved apology to the ANPP chief.
The letter reads in part: "It is our instruction that you make the payment of Five Hundred Million Naira (N500,000,000.00) as aggravated and exemplary damages, and also tender an unreserved apology to our said client, Rt Hon. Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke.
"You are hereby given 14 days within which to do so and also to apologize by placing and publishing it in a very conspicuous page - i.e. Page 1 or centre page, in bold letters in Sunday Sun newspaper and also in two other national newspapers, viz; ThisDay and Daily Trust. You are required also to pay in the said sum demanded within this period.
"You are hereby warned that if you fail to comply with these demands within the above-stated stipulated time, we would have no other alternative than to institute on behalf of our said client, a law suit in the Federal Capital Territory High Court of Justice for redress."
It could be recalled that the ANPP's candidate in the April presidential poll, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, parted ways with the leadership of the party over the former's stance on the unity government. Buhari has consistently restated his commitment to pursue his suit challenging the election of Yar'Adua as president.
Indeed, the crisis took a turn for the worse a few weeks ago when Ume-Ezeoke, who was Buhari's running mate in the last election, formally withdrew from the petition filed by Buhari.
Ume-Ezeoke's formal withdrawal was announced before the Presidential Election Tribunal in Abuja on Tuesday.
In a motion to that effect, Ume-Ezeoke said that he was authorised by the ANPP to withdraw from the petition.
He said the party mandated him to support President Umaru Yar'Adua because it was participating in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The tribunal's chairman, Justice James Ogebe, accordingly struck out Ume-Ezeoke's name from Buhari's petition.
But in a swift response, Buhari's counsel said that they now felt safe to pursue the case with the withdrawal of Ume-Ezeoke.
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