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Gerald Eguaroje
…Gives Online publisher get 30 days to retract story
Lagos lawyer, Mr. Gerald Eguaroje has given no fewer than eight online news media a 30-day deadline to retract a malicious story published by Secret Reporters and similar outlets in 2017.
In a statement issued by the legal practitioner Thursday, August 6, 2020, Eguaroje said the malicious publication by the Publisher of Secret Reporters, Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver August 8, 2017 alleging wife beating even in the street against him was a concocted by the publishers for reasons best known to them. For also publishing the said story, the legal practitioner joined other online bloggers like motherhoodinstyle.net, nairaland.com, fab.ng, olufamous.blogspot.com, strongloaded.com, subarunewsblog.blogspot.com, ads4nairablog.com in the deadline notice.
The statement reads: “My name is Gerald Eguaroje. A lawyer from Okpe, Akoko Edo LGA in Edo State. I am married to Sweet Bose Eguaroje and we both have two lovely kids. We have lived together through thick and thin and weather any storm we encountered till the malicious publications by Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver about me.
“I have worked with some non-governmental organization like Project Alert on Violence Against Women and BAOBAB in the past to support the propagation of young girls and women to be treated decently and not subjected to suffer any violent assault or domestic violence because of their sexuality. In course of my work with these NGOs I have exploited all legal means to bring abusers and pedophiles to face the consequences of their actions.
“I stand accused now by one Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver as a lawyer that beats up his wife in the streets to the extent of damaging her eye in a publication he put up online on 8/8/2017. In the publication he urged other online bloggers to republish the story until the NBA knows about it and subject me to disciplinary measures like disbarment.
“Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver is the blogger who used his online platform namely Secret Reporters to publish stories which he claimed he investigated before he concluded that his victims committed crimes of unimaginable proportions while describing them with the vilest invective he can find. Some of his victims are Governor Okowa, former Governor Babaginda Aliyu, some employees of Sterling Bank whose petition resulted in his arrest and prosecution in the Federal High Court for breaching the provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition Prevention Etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended).
“The malicious publications about me was debunked by my wife and myself on the Facebook timeline of Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver when he published them causing him to insult my wife and label her as ungrateful with a promise to the world that he will not assist other women who have been assaulted by their husbands in future.
“To set the records straight because despite our best efforts to do so other online bloggers like motherhoodinstyle.net, nairaland.com, fab.ng, olufamous.blogspot.com,strongloaded.com, subarunewsblog.blogspot.com, ads4nairablog.com have republished these falsehoods about me and my wife that we agreed to address the world about what published allegedly happened on 6/8/2017.
“We had an argument about my intention to allow my niece to stay with me. She is a daughter of my step sister and the reasons for my wife refusal to allow her continuous stay with us was that my sister’s children have not had their fair share of affinity with us. Both of us were arguing indoors in our apartment and in the process she mistakenly hit her face on a door which did no damage to her eye as published by Fejiro Oliver.
“I called my elder sister and asked her to intervene (my mistake) and got a nondescript response from her. However she called my wife and warned her not to be quarrelling with me for sake of my health. My wife alarmed by the accusations levied against her for causing any deterioration to my health told my sister our arguments on the 6/8/2017 was not that bad and reported that she was the one who was worse for it and forwarded the picture of her slightly swollen face to the smart phone of my sister’s son namely John Ogheneovo who was/is a facebook friend of the Fejiro Oliver.
“My wife thought nothing of it and did not even inform me. It was therefore a matter of great consternation when my friend Barrister Jide Agbaje told me that there was a story about me on the internet.
“When I checked I discovered that Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver of Secret Reporters alleged that he carried out investigations and confirmed from passers-by who witnessed me engaging my wife in a fight in the streets to the point that I inflicted a severe injury on her eye and almost damaged her eyes on the 6/8/2017.
“Even when my wife attempted to debunk the falsehoods on 8/8/2017, Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver resorted to insulting my wife on Facebook. Both of us decided to show the world that there was no fight as published with glee by Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver and his cohorts in the internet. We proceeded to a drive out on 10/8/2017 in our car with our daughter and my wife took pictures showing her face and eyes without any damage as they want the world to believe. This picture was published by my wife and myself on our respective Facebook timelines on 10/8/2017.
“Not done Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver runs Secret Reporters an online news media famous for its mission statement to wit: to expose government, corporate and private individual corrupt practices in all sectors and system through citizens’ whistle blowing and private investigative journalism without minding whose ox is gored. This is the blogger’s mindset in publishing stories about individuals in a bid to attract patronage of advertisers of goods and services for a huge fee. He is yet to retract the falsehoods published about my wife and I.
“Three years after the initial publications about by Gerald Eguaroje and his wife which was replicated by motherhoodinstyle.net, nairaland.com, fab.ng, olufamous.blogspot.com, strongloaded.com, subarunewsblog.blogspot.com, ads4nairablog.com and clarifications and denouncement my wife they have continuously published these highly defamatory falsehoods about me” the statement said.
The lawyer then declared as follows: “may I use this medium to notify all of them i.e. motherhoodinstyle.net, nairaland.com, fab.ng, olufamous.blogspot.com, strongloaded.com, subarunewsblog.blogspot.com, ads4nairablog.com and Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver of Secret Reporters that if they do not publish a retraction and apology for their malicious and unsubstantiated publications about me within 30 days, we shall not notify them of our intention to resort to take legal actions to seek remedies for breach of our rights to privacy and/or as guaranteed under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition Prevention Etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended).
“This is reinforced the more by the fact that my wife did not give any of them consent to publish malicious publications against me. Furthermore the said Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver of Secret Reporters did not investigate any incident leading to the conclusions he drew that I ‘pounced on my wife and pummeled her to the extent of almost damaging her eye’.
“I challenge Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver of Secret Reporters to please name the ‘passersby’ he claimed informed him of the incident. I also challenge him to justify his action of hacking into my personal Facebook,Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram accounts where he copied our pictures which he used for the said publications.
“Instructively, I met Oghenedoro Tega aka Fejiro Oliver of Secret Reporters in the Federal High Court, Lagos division sometime in 2018 when he was arrested and prosecuted for criminally defaming some employees of Sterling Bank Plc. When I asked him if he knew Barrister Gerald Eguaroje, he answered in the negative. I then asked him if he can recall publications about Barrister Gerald Eguaroje he answered ‘it must be one of my publications
