The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Patrick Cole, has prepared a ₦20billion defamation claim against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, over what he described as “false, malicious, and reckless” statements made during a television interview.
In a pre-action letter dated October 8, 2025, signed by Chief J.S. Okutepa (SAN) of J.S. Okutepa & Co., Cole’s legal team on Thursday, the APC stalwart accused Wike of making “highly defamatory and criminally injurious remarks” during his appearance on Channels TV on September 18.
According to the letter, during the broadcast titled “One-on-One with Nyesom Wike” the FCT Minister allegedly referred to Cole as a “thief”, accused him of “stealing state resources”, and being “a conduit pipe” in relation to the sale of Rivers State’s gas assets valued at $308 million.
Okutepa stated that Wike’s remarks were “completely false, malicious, and made with reckless disregard for the truth”, adding that they were transmitted live to a national and international audience and have since been rebroadcast and circulated widely on social media.
“Your words, which you uttered and published recklessly and without any factual truth whatsoever, were broadcast live to millions of viewers and have since been amplified by rebroadcasts, online publications, and extensive social media circulation as intended and authorised by you,” the letter reads in part.
The letter claimed that Wike’s comments portrayed Cole as “a thief, dishonest and fraudulent person, an economic saboteur, and a morally bankrupt man”, thereby inflicting grave reputational harm on him as an entrepreneur, politician, and pastor.
Cole’s legal team also included a link to the alleged interview and accused Wike of aggravating the damage by leaving the defamatory content publicly accessible.
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