Defamation: Maje Ayida slams N100m suit against Toke Makinwa

Toke Makinwa and Maje Ayida

Fitness expert, Maje Ayida, has instituted legal action against estranged wife, Toke Makinwa, for allegedly defaming him in her bestselling victim literature, On Becoming.

The suit was filed by his lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) of Pinheiro LP, at the Lagos Division of the High Court of Lagos State, on February 7, according to a report by TheCable.

Publishers of the book, Kachifo Limited, were also named as respondent.

Maje, who is demanding N100m in damages, wants the court to donate the money to four charities which will be nominated by him.

It follows a December 2016 letter of demand in which Maje demanded that Toke retracts defamatory accounts about him contained in the memoir, withdraw the book from circulation and tender an unreserved apology in several national dailies.

The letter described the book as nothing but “exaggerated fabrication” containing “defamatory words”.

Expectedly, the social media celebrity ignored the demand and went on a promo tour of the book outside Nigeria.

Toke wedded Maje on January 15, 2014.

Seventeen months after, precisely on June 14, 2015, news broke that Maje Ayida had impregnated a long time girlfriend named Anita Solomon.

The Cool FM OAP filed for divorce through her solicitors, Messrs Adepetun, Cato-Martins, Agbor & Agbor, in March 2016 citing adultery, cruelty and irreconcilable differences.

She followed that up with the release of On Becoming in November 2016, claiming, among others, that Maje infected her with STDs, cheated on her and did not financially contribute adequately.