By Shola Abayomi.
The management of Vanguard Newspaper has announced a retraction of a story it published on its website on Monday, September 23, 2019 which alleged that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received N90 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) during the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
Recall that the Vice President through his counsel, Femi Falana (SAN) had described the publication as a vicious, wicked and reckless ploy to malign his reputation, stating that the report lacked any iota of evidence.
In a letter to Vanguard Newspaper, Falana demanded an immediate retraction of the publication, coupled with an apology prominently published in the national daily.
He threatened that failure to meet up with the demands within 24 hours of acknowledging receipt of the letter, legal remedies shall be sought in court.
“Take notice that if we do not receive your formal retraction and apology within 24 hours of the receipt of this letter, we shall proceed with our client’s instructions to seek legal remedies including aggravated damages in the appropriate High Court”, he said.
Reacting to the ultimatum, the Vanguard Newspaper in a statement issued by its Editor retracted the story as well as tendered an apology to the Vice President.
The statement read, “On our website publication of Monday, September 23, 2019 we published a story titled “N 90 Bn FIRS Election Fund: Osinbajo’s problem, not 2023 politics.” We have since discovered that the story lacks factual substance and we hereby retract it in its entirety
“We tender our profound apology to Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on whom the story touches directly and the All Progressives Congress, A.P.C. for any inconvenience or embarrassment the publication has occasioned them. We hold Professor Osinbajo, S.A.N. in the highest esteem.”