Abuja: Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has issued a stern warning to Prof. Zacharys Gundu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Mkar, demanding a retraction of recent televised remarks linking him to state insecurity or face legal action.
Through his legal counsel, Sule set a seven-day deadline for the VC to tender an unreserved public apology, failing which legal action will be pursued, including claims for exemplary damages.
The letter, dated July 22, was made available to reporters on Friday in Abuja. Sule alleged that the damage caused by the VC’s statement was unquantifiable.
The varsity professor was alleged to have said during a programme on TV that, “the issue of Nasarawa has come up and we know that even during Al-Makura’s time, those people were coming there and attacking Benue, and Al-Makura would call them international hunters.
“He would call them international hunters, even though Nasarawa does not have an international hunting ground; he would call them because he wanted to mask that.
“The governor of Nasarawa, Sule, is also masking the problem.
“Now, no other person in their right senses will ever say that the people who are killing and attacking us are coming from outside the country.”
The governor, in his reaction, challenged the VC to provide evidence or retract his statement within seven days, accompanied by an apology, or face court action.
According to him, the statements have injured his reputation in the eyes and minds of right-thinking people in society.
“In the foregoing premise, our client hereby challenges you to provide evidence of your allegations therein against him, which have seriously injured his reputation in the eyes of right-thinking members of society.
The letter reads: “Given the far-reaching ramifications of your publication, our client will not sit back and watch his hard-earned reputation and goodwill destroyed by your malicious decision to not only lay false allegations against him, but also to cause the same to be published for the world’s attention.
“Surely, the damage occasioned to our client by your deliberate but ill-advised action is unquantifiable.
“However, our client will be assuaged if you retract the said publication and tender an unreserved public apology to him in at least 5 [five] national newspapers. Daily newspapers within 7 [seven] days of receipt of this letter.
“If not, we have our client’s further instructions to seek redress against you in a court of law, where exemplary damages will be claimed against you. Kindly be advised.”
