The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has threatened to institute a ₦10bn defamation suit against the founder of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, over alleged defamatory remarks.
Naija News reports that Kwankwaso, through his lawyers, Magaji Mato Ibrahim (SAN) & Co., accused the cleric of making false and malicious statements capable of damaging his reputation and political integrity.
In a letter dated June 11, 2026, and shared on by Kwankwaso’s media aide, Saifullahi Hassan, the legal team said their client’s attention had been drawn to a viral publication allegedly made by Ayodele and circulated on social media and various news platforms.
According to the lawyers, the cleric, during a sermon that was recorded and livestreamed, allegedly suggested that Kwankwaso was not sincere in his political relationship with the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and had been financially induced to become his running mate.
The lawyers quoted Ayodele as saying, “Kwankwaso is a fake to Obi, Kwankwaso will betray you. Kwankwaso has been paid to be vice president to Obi.”
The solicitors argued that the comments directly questioned their client’s credibility and sincerity.
“The Publication directly and unequivocally refers to our Client and attacks his credibility, sincerity of purpose and political integrity as the Vice-presidential Candidate and running mate to Peter Obi under the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) political party,” the letter stated.
They further described the remarks as deliberate, premeditated, false, unprovoked, grossly unfounded and unsubstantiated, alleging that they portrayed Kwankwaso to right-thinking members of society as deviant, hypocritical, deceitful and insincere.
The legal team demanded that Ayodele issue a full retraction and apology within 24 hours of receiving the letter.
“That you immediately within twenty-four (24) hours publish a full, direct and unequivocal retraction of and apology for the false, malicious and defamatory publication against our Client, on all social media platforms and reputable local and international news outlets, while ensuring that the retraction and apology is given the same visibility and prominence as your defamatory publication,” the lawyers said.
They also demanded a written undertaking from the cleric to refrain from making or republishing any further defamatory statements against their client.
The lawyers warned that failure to comply with the demands would leave their client with no option but to seek legal redress.
“Take Notice that if you neglect, fail or refuse to accede to our reasonable demands within the stipulated time frame, we have our Client’s unflinching instruction to take out appropriate legal proceedings against you without further recourse to you, wherein we shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs,” the letter added.
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