Special adviser to president Goodluck Jonathan on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati stirred the hornet’s nest in 2011 when he wrote in the Guardian Newspaper an opinion article entitled, “For the attention of General Buhari”.
In the said column, Abati accused the former head of state and CPC Presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), of making inciting statements which led to the post-election violence that rocked some parts of the north.
He wrote: “You should never leave polling centres until polls are counted and the winner declared and you should lynch anybody that tries to tinker with the votes.”
The article infuriated Buhari who saw it as defamatory, intended to lower his integrity and to bring him into public ridicule and subsequently dragged Abati and The Guardian to court via suit no. ID/837/2011 and demanded N1billion damages from them.
But informationng.com gathers that the presidency has convinced the former PTDF Chairman to settle out of court. The Terms of Settlement, dated December 2012 and filed before the administrative judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, the claimant (Buhari), Mr. Tope Adebayo ( lawyer to Buhari), Abati and Mr. Kunle Sanyaolu (lawyer to The Guardian) signed the terms of settlement. But the lawyer to the firstdefendant (Abati), Dame Carol Ajie, declined to sign the document.
The terms of settlement reads in part: “The claimant (Buhari) and defendants (Abati and The Guardian) have agreed that the defendants should publish a retraction and an apology to the claimant on the Opinion Page of the newspaper, to be printed in reverse lineblack (RLB) within seven days of entering the Consent Terms as the judgment of the court in two editions of The Guardian.
“The claimant and defendants have agreed and resolved that the retraction and apology shall take the following form and contents: ‘Re: For the attention of General Buhari’- On April 22, 2011, The Guardian Newspaper published an article on Page 51 titled ‘For the attention of General Buhari’ where certain allegations were made against General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), GCFR, concerning the 2011 election and General Buhari’s alleged role in the violence emanating from the elections.
“The publication was based on information which we believed to be reliable at that time. Since the publication, however, we now have reason to believe that certain parts of the story were not verified to be correct before the publication.
“We assure General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), GCFR, of our highest esteem and regret any distress or embarrassment which the said publication may have caused him.
“The claimant and defendants agree that on the execution of these Terms of Settlement, the defendants are discharged from all or any liabilities or obligations arising from the said publication.”
