Assassination Allegation: My Voice Note Was Distorted - Gani Adams

 

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams has reacted to a voice note of him allegedly making assassination allegation against Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho; and the Chief of Staff to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Mr Tayo Ayinde.

 

 

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.

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.

 

The letter partly read, “Firstly, our client denies the content and inferences drawn by you in your letter under reference regarding the alleged audio clip you attributed to our client. As stated in your letter, the content of the alleged video clip, which is a concocted, distorted, and disjointed part of a private conversation between our client and another person in 2021, was published and widely circulated by one Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Alias ‘Sunday Ighoho’) and not our client.”

 

It also said, “Furthermore, it is obvious from the alleged defamatory remarks that our client mentioned that it was a ‘rumoured and unconfirmed information that he found difficult to believe’ and could not be shared publicly. Thus, there is no element of malice on the part of our client pertaining to the alleged statement attributed to him in the said video clip.”

Adams was further quoted in the statement by his media aide as saying “The reason for my silence in the midst of the various legal and media infractions by Igboho and Ayinde, was not because I am a coward, but because of the initial interventions of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, other prominent Obas and several other important personalities in Yorubaland.

 

Adams noted that in the circulating audio, he said it repeatedly that though it was very difficult to believe, there was an unconfirmed rumour allegedly linking Igboho to the murder of the late Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.

 

“My statement was not done in bad faith and it was purely a private conversation,” he added.

 

He stressed that “However, on the issue of my brother, Tayo Ayinde, let me make it clear here that I repeatedly said that whatever was said was a rumour that couldn’t be substantiated or made public.”