APGA Demands 20bn From Lagos’ Fashola For Using Party Logo

The All Progressives Grand Alliance is unhappy with the use of the party’s logo in a  congratulatory advertorial authorised by the Lagos Governor, Babatunde Fashola.
The party, which called the act a mischievous and premeditated action, demanded that Fashola in addition to retracting the publication within seven days, pay the party N20 billion as damages or face legal action.

Addressing journalists at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, also blasted Fashola for what he termed an attempt to cause confusion and breakdown of law and order through the dumping of destitute and criminals in Onitsha.
Umeh said the party leadership was shocked to read from the newspaper advertorials placed by   Fashola that APGA was part of the  All Progressives Congress (APC).

In his comments, he said, “We want to make it abundantly clear that this was a clearly orchestrated, premeditated action by Governor Fashola  to deceive supporters of APGA and on behalf of our party, we are calling on Fashola to publish a retraction of the advertorial removing APGA logo in all the newspaper advertisements that our logo appeared today (yesterday) within seven days.

“In addition to our demand  for the retraction of the publication, we are also referring the matter to our lawyers to formally write Governor Fashola to pay us damages in the sum of N20 billion or face legal action,” he said.

To him, the governor was aware that no APGA official attended any meeting where merger talks were held and, ”He is also aware that APGA leadership has consistently made it clear to Nigerians that APGA was never part of the merger talks and will never part of it.

“We were shocked to see today’s (yesterday) newspapers, an advertorial placed by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, congratulating APC  for scaling the registration hurdle of the Independent National  Electoral Commission (INEC) and in the publication, four political parties logos were listed- ACN, CPC, ANPP and APGA.

“We are expressing our dismay that the Lagos State governor, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, can so mischievously place the advertorial which listed the logo of APGA. Of course, the clear intention of the action is to give the impression that APGA is now part of APC and that APGA is no longer a political party.

“Coming from a senior lawyer, we are sure that the governor knows the obvious implications of this advertorial, which we detest.
“It is a mischief contrived to deceive all our teeming supporters in Nigeria and worldwide that APGA has now become part of APC.  Governor Fashola cannot claim not to know that APGA never submitted itself to any merger talks with the three parties and other interest groups that came together to form the APC,” he added.

He called on the APC to check its desperation by playing by the rules, after all “if they are desperate to recruit APGA in their ranks, they should know that it is not by force.”
So what would Fashola’s response be?

culled from: ynaija