DEFAMATORY PUBLICATIONS AGAINST ARC. TONYE PATRICK COLE: DEMAND FOR RETRACTION, PUBLIC APOLOGY, AND PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION IN THE SUM OF ₦20,000,000,000 (TWENTY BILLION NAIRA)
We have been briefed and our professional services retained by Arc. Tonye Patrick Cole, hereinafter referred to as "our client," on whose firm and unequivocal instructions we write this letter of demand.
It is the instruction of our client that on the 18th day of September 2025, during a live broadcast of Channels Television's flagship primetime programme, Politics Today, in an edition titled "One-on-One with Nyesom Wike", anchored by Mr. Seun Okinbaloye, you made very damaging, malicious, and unfounded defamatory statements concerning and against the person and office of our client.
It is our instruction that in the said programme, which was published/televised at your instance, permission, and/or direction, you made defamatory statements against the person, office, and occupation of our client without any factual or justifiable legal basis whatsoever. It is our instruction that in the said publication, you used, as a lawyer, very unprofessional and gutter language unbecoming of your calling, which you knew or ought to have known was false and completely devoid of any factual or legal basis.
We have the instruction of our client that you falsely described him as a "thief," accusing him of "stealing state resources," being "a conduit pipe with Sahara," and specifically charged our client with "selling Rivers State gas for $308 million." We were briefed that you went further in the programme to claim that our client was directly responsible for crippling the resources of Rivers State. Politics Today, we have been informed, is one of the most widely watched political programmes in Nigeria, enjoying both national and international viewership. It is our instruction that your words, which you uttered and published recklessly and without any factual truth whatsoever, were broadcast live to millions of viewers and have since been amplified through rebroadcasts, online publications, and extensive social media circulation, as intended and authorised by you.
It is our instruction that the defamatory broadcast has therefore reached an exceptionally wide audience, making its injurious effect permanent and incalculably damaging to our client's hard-earned reputation. The words you used and which you published, or caused Channels Television to publish to millions of viewers both nationally and internationally, portrayed our client in their ordinary and natural meaning as a thief, a dishonest and fraudulent person, an economic saboteur, and a morally bankrupt man. The publication further portrayed our client as an economic parasite with no integrity or love for the people of Rivers State and Nigerians in general. These imputations are plainly calculated to expose our client to public obloquy, hatred, ridicule, and contempt, and to injure him in his profession and standing as a respected entrepreneur, statesman, and religious man of impeccable character and repute.
We have been briefed by our client that by allowing these false allegations to be published, repeated, and left permanently accessible on public platforms, you have demonstrated reckless disregard for the truth and fairness. The devastating consequences of your words have lowered the integrity and reputation of our client in the estimation of his friends, associates, the general public, and family members, who now look down on our client as a thief, common criminal, and an unworthy man of doubtful character.
It is our instruction that each continued rebroadcast, repost, and replay compounds the defamation, further injuring our client's hard-earned reputation before right-thinking members of society both within and outside Nigeria. For the avoidance of doubt, the said interview is archived and remains accessible on Channels Television's official YouTube channel through the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/live(FAxzP7fpgYk?si=ahSipdWqYWdRlBQ9
It is our instruction that this continued availability of the defamatory publication at your instance aggravates the defamatory injury and ensures the harm to our client persists daily. We have the instruction of our client that the words, video, and news permanently stored and published concerning our client directly referred to him by name and his office as a politician, pastor, and architect. You meant, and it was understood in their natural and ordinary meaning, that our client is a thief, a convicted criminal, a dishonest and fraudulent person, an economic saboteur, a morally bankrupt man, an economic parasite, and a political and social viper who has no business in ecclesiastical circles -- a wicked man of extraordinarily bad image and character who should not be seen associating with decent people, and a man who has no love for the people of Rivers State and Nigerians in general.
It is our instruction that the words you published or caused to be published concerning the person, office, and occupation of our client were not only false but were recklessly uttered in bad faith and with malice, calculated to destroy our client's hard-earned reputation as an accomplished entrepreneur, public figure, and statesman. The imputations are criminal in nature, portraying our client as dishonest, corrupt, and unfit to hold any position of trust. Our client categorically denies these allegations and states unequivocally that he has never been indicted, convicted, or found guilty of any crime in relation to the matters you raised or any matter at all.
Accordingly, it is our instruction that, in order to mitigate the colossal damage already caused, we demand, and we hereby demand, that you immediately retract the defamatory statements in full, in writing, and cause such retraction to be broadcast with equal prominence on Channels Television and published in at least three national newspapers within 14 days from the date of this letter. You are further required to tender an unreserved public apology to our client, both in writing and through the same media platforms, specifically by way of a live broadcast on Channels Television, in addition to the three national newspapers.
In addition to the demands in paragraph 10 hereof, we have the instruction of our client to demand, and we so demand now, that you pay the sum of ₦20,000,000,000.00 (Twenty Billion Naira) as compensation for the malicious and unfounded defamatory publication complained of, which has caused severe reputational damage, mental distress, and loss of goodwill to our client since the unwarranted and false publication. We have instruction that a bank draft in the above sum be issued to our client and sent to us within the days given hereof. In addition, we have instruction to demand, and we do so now, that you provide a written undertaking to desist forthwith from any further defamatory publications against our client.
Take notice that we have the unequivocal instruction of our client to take out a writ of summons against you in the event of your refusal, failure, and/or neglect to comply fully with the demands of our client in paragraphs 10 and 11 hereof within 14 days from the date of this letter. We hope you will not allow our client to resort to the use of weapons in legal armouries before you comply with the demands of our client herein.