The suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has indicated that she will sue the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for alleged defamation.
This was ‘disclosed in a letter dated April 9, 2024’, which was addressed to Abuja and London based bureaus of BBC by her legal representative Chikaosolu Ojukwu (SAN), an extract of which LEADERSHIP has sighted.
According to the letter, Dr. Edu claims that during the ongoing investigation into NSIPA by EFCC there were reports made about her taking away N30 billion that belongs to this organization as reported on BBC
Dr. Edu’s lawyer blamed coverage he described as false for tarnishing her name.
Consequently, through a notice from Ojukwu, the said report must be withdrawn by BBC within two days and it should apologize publicly to Dr. Edu stating thus: “Our client reputation and psychological pain and suffering have been ruined due to publication and wide distribution”.
In addition to this claim, Dr. Edu is also asking for $50 million from the UK media corporation in damages while expressing her intent to sue this media outlet.
The letter, which is written in a formal tone but with grave concern, reacts to an article on BBC online that appears to implicate Dr. Edu in an EFCC ongoing corruption case involving the recovery of N30 billion and 50 bank accounts linked to her.
According to the lawyer, this letter has various connotations that wrongly relate Dr. Edu with the recovered funds and alleged suspension due to misappropriation of $640,000 into a personal account.
It is important for us as lawyers who are aware of the principle of presumption of innocence not reflected on the way she was portrayed in this article. The article’s choice of words such as “said,” ignored so much about journalism ethics when they failed to offer her chance to respond before publishing it.
As far as the title, message and underlying messages are concerned, the narration insinuates guilt on her part without solid evidence thereby deliberately tainting her name while at same time questioning her credibility over years.
Just to be clear, Dr Edu has not been formally charged or held responsible for any kind of money mismanagement in her capacity as a minister. As well, not a single penny, including the above 30billion Naira mentioned before, has been traced or recovered from her accounts nor there is any illegal profit that can justify this controversial article.
From numerous calls and messages from colleagues and friends since this article came out (distributed widely by the BBC), it is evident that our client’s phone has been ringing nonstop and everyone is shocked with disbelief. The release and wide spread circulation of the article have caused great harm to their reputation as well as profound emotional trauma.
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