The overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries, Johnson Suleman, has threatened legal action against the lawyer representing a Canada-based Nigerian, Stephanie Otobo, for alleged slander.
The cleric also demanded N1 billion from the lawyer “for all the injuries inflicted” on him.
Mr. Suleman stated these in a statement on Thursday by his lawyer, Osa Director.
He gave Mr. Keyamo seven days to retract the allegations levelled against the cleric by his client.
Mr. Keyamo had signed two letters, dated March 6, wherein Mr. Suleman was alleged to have impregnated Ms. Otobo and abandoned her, afterwards.
According to the letter, Mr. Suleman allegedly promised marriage to Ms. Otobo, but later severed all ties with the singer after she became pregnant.
The letter also alleged that Mr. Suleman was responsible for an abortion Ms. Otobo forcefully had.
Although the pastor, has since denied the allegations, Ms. Otobo and her lawyer say they stand by their initial allegations.
In the statement on Thursday, Mr. Suleman threatened to drag Mr. Keyamo before the disciplinary committee of the Nigerian Bar Association for alleged professional misconduct.
“By your relentless media campaign, you are conducting yourself in a manner inconsistent with S.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007. Instead of gathering your facts and evidence before a court of competent jurisdiction for adjudication you have cleverly resorted to blackmail and intimidation of our client through the media-both traditional and social media.
“In short, you have threatened and indeed executed your threat of conjuring, manufacturing and synthesizing bogus and unverifiable exhibits in the social media and newspapers, all with a view to poison public opinion against our client and reduce his esteem and reputation in the eye of any reasonable man. Your attitude is also to ambush a fair trial while litigation is anticipated. This is contrary to S.33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct For Legal Practitioners 2007.
“Furthermore, you grossly and recklessly maligned our client, saying, “These men of God are not what they claim to be, we have a duty to protect the public. Many of them are fake and fraudsters. You will see the video very soon in the next few minutes.” True to your threat of trial publicity stunts, the video clips have flooded the social media networks.
“We believe your conduct is inconsistent with the virtues and rules of conduct of the legal profession. It smacks of indiscipline and disdain for the judicial process. Therefore, we demand a retraction of all your press statements and an apology to be published in the major social media networks and Punch newspapers. Also, we demand a compensation of One Billion Naira for all the injuries inflicted on our client. We expect you to meet our demands within seven days from the date above written.”
– Premium Times
