A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has threatened legal action against the senate president, Godswill Akpabio, for alleged defamation of character.

The decision, which was revealed by Emefiele’s legal team, would see him demand N25 billion in damages from the Senate President if he fails to apologise.

According to a letter by the former governor’s legal team dated February 19, 2024, which was sighted by The Guardian, the move is in reaction to a widely circulated statement made by the Senate President in a video displayed by Channels Television last weekend which, according to Emefiele, is false, distorted and clearly aimed at denigrating his image.

The letter was received by the office of the senate president on February, 20, 2024.

Akpabio had recently said, “We don’t know what crime to charge Emefiele with.

“So the kind of debt and the kind of economic mess that we are in, a lot of people do not understand, I remember President Obama saying you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington. So by the time we went in to look at the economic state of the country, it was terrible, so the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, we didn’t even know what to charge him, whether to charge him for putting foam on the… or to charge him for illegal possession of firearms or to charge him for printing notes without income, I don’t know what we are going to charge him with. But, what I know is that, yes, there is hunger today because of the policies that they took,” Akpabio said.

In his letter to the Senate President, Emefiele said Akpabio had, in his statement, suggested that “The cause of the entire hardship in Nigeria today is as a result of the policies of the previous administration.”

It also said it portrayed Emefiele as “A serial offender whose action is responsible for all the hardship experienced by Nigerians today.

“A person who has committed offences that are so numerous that the government is confused as to which of the offences to prefer a charge against him.”

He accused Akpabio of sub-judice, saying the former CBN chief had been charged to court and is currently defending himself.

He said it was worrisome that, as head of the legislature, Akpabio should have known that his statement undermined the integrity and independence of the court.

The letter stated: “Your Excellency, as the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you certainly know, or have reasons to know that the Federal Government of Nigeria had since the 14 August, 2023 preferred charges against our client, to which he had long pleaded not guilty and is presently defending same to exonerate himself and show that he is not guilty of the said allegations. It is therefore disturbing, that such a statement would be made by the Head of the Legislature of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on a matter that is clearly sub-judice.

“Your statement, with the greatest respect, clearly undermines the honour and integrity of the Court and its independence and indeed has the propensity of prejudicing the case against Our Client. Having submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court, it is only fair and proper that the Court should be allowed to determine the issues submitted to it without unnecessary pressure from any other arm of Government.

“Secondly Sir, as a Senior member of the Bar, a former Governor of a State, a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and former Minister under the immediate past Administration, Your statement attributing the present economic woes of the country’solely on Our Client is most appalling and exposes the inaccuracies in Your assertions.

“You are also aware that no single policy was carried out by Our Client without the approval, directive or authorization of the President and/or the Federal Executive Council of which you were a key and powerful member.

“It is pursuant to the above and without delving into the matter presently pending in Court that Our Client has instructed that we write to Your good offices and demand the immediate retraction of Your statement which has gone viral and are considered clearly defamatory of Our Client

“These baseless and false allegations clearly defames the character of Our Client and has also caused him great pains and embarrassment as it has lowered his esteem before the right thinking members of the Society in addition to the obvious odium and opprobrium from the unsuspecting members of the Society as a result of the falsity contained in that statement.

“We therefore have Our Client’s further instruction to demand from you an unreserved apology in writing, published and circulated by the same medium with which you have defamed his character, and the sum of Twenty-Five Billion Naira (N25,000,000,000) as reasonable compensation for the willful and unjustifiable denigration of his hard earned reputation. In the event that you fail, refuse or neglect to comply with this legitimate demand, Our Client will be at liberty to seek the appropriate redress available to him under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Whilst anticipating your compliance with the above, kindly accept the assurances of our best regards,” the letter read in part.