Miss Adeparusi Damilola, popularly known as Chef Dammy, who came into the limelight while trying to break the Guinness World Records for longest cook-a-thon of 120 hours, had demanded a compensation of N500 million from one Pastor Adegoke Jeremiah, also known as ‘Billionaire Dollars Pastor’, over alleged bullying, blackmailing, sponsored media attacks, exploitation, threat to life, psychological trauma, and emotional pains inflicted on her by the pastor.
Chef Dammy, in a letter written by her lawyers, Sun Richardmond Natha-Alade and Amb Wale Ojo-Lanre of Sun Natha-Alade and Partners, SNATHAP, titled: Re: Defamation of Character Demand for Retraction of Libellous Statement on Social Media and Two Widely Read National Dailies and Payment of N200 Million; And Counter-Demand for N500 Million for the Bullying, Blackmailing, Sponsored Attacks, Manipulation, Exploitation, Threat to Life, Psychological Trauma and Emotional Pains Inflicted On ‘Young Chef Dammy, apart from the N500 million damages, is also demanding a public apology to be published in three national newspapers and on social media platforms, where the pastor had allegedly defamed the chef.
The letter stated that the lawyers received a letter purportedly written by the pastor’s lawyer, Sule Busayo and Co., dated October 23, 2023, where the pastor asked for N20,000,000 and a public apology in two national newspapers.
Describing the letter as “not only laughable but an insult and a ploy to divert attention from every wrong you have committed against our client,” Chef Dammy’s lawyers added that the letter is also a “façade to silence our client from exercising her constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights and freedoms, with your further manifested intention to shut her up from expressing herself, based on facts touching on her exploitation, bullying, blackmail, manipulations, sponsored attacks, psychological traumas, and emotional pains you have subjected her to at all times, beginning immediately before and after the cook-a-thon program, held between June 9 and 12, 2023, in our client’s attempt to break the Guinness Book of Records.”
Explaining the mode of bullying, blackmail, and manipulation, among others, the lawyers said, ” We are aware that our client, being a young lady who has very little knowledge and experience about life, was taken advantage of, willfully exploited, blackmailed and bullied by you, viz. (to mention a few)
“1. You initiated, lured, manipulated, and talked our client into going for a 120-hour cook-a-thon—a cooking marathon for 120 hours non-stop—with the aim of publicising your church, getting a financial advantage, and giving your church and personal career an advantage at the detriment of our client.
“2. Prior to, during, and after the program, you seized our client’s phones for several days, restricting her from communication, while you manipulated her to give you access to all her personal details, such as her bank accounts, her ATM pins, all her social media accounts, etc.., all in order to keep track of all money inflows and information connected thereto.
“3. You benefited maximally from all money realized in the course of the exercise, as the same was released to you and/or your bank account directly and/or by proxy.
“4. Our client took ill at the tail end of the cook-a-thon exercise and was hospitalized, yet, while on her sick bed and in order to keep yourself in the spotlight and fame, you kept on bringing all manners of interviewers and pressmen to her hospital bed before her parents warded you off.”
They further accused the cleric of a “subsequent move to further manipulate and exploit our client after the first 120-hour cook-a-thon exercise, by suggesting she go for another 150-hour cook-a-thon was politely resisted by her, upon the leak, consideration, and realization of some facts that bother her on insincerity, financial impropriety, and general manipulation, which made her realized that she had been manipulated and/or used by you; continued threat to her and disturbance of our client’s peace of mind, which led to the intervention of the office of the First Lady of Ekiti State, where you undertook to let her be in peace, upon your invitation.”
The letter added, “Upon exit from the office of the First Lady of Ekiti State and despite your undertaking to let her be in peace, you were quoted saying ‘persons who brought this matter to the First Lady would die,’ without mincing words. This statement and likely implication made our client come on air to state that ‘if anything happens to her, you, the Billion Dollar Pastor should be held responsible,’ as our client further promised to let the whole world know what is happening to her at your instance.
“It is to be noted that despite your undertaking to let our client be and let her have her peace of mind, you continually and overtly persisted in harassing, intimidating, and threatening her life.
“When you could not do the same alone any longer, you recruited students and your entire church to bully our client, threaten her, and lay curses on her, while you used all available social media and sponsored media against her, of which there have been several newspaper publications in respect of your bullying conduct and that of your church members against our client.
“As if all that were not enough, you caused a lawyer to write our client, while you laid a false claim to defamation of character and inordinately requested that N20,000,000 be paid to you.”
Insisting that “at no time has our client defamed you; rather, you have been the person who has continually harassed and defamed our client,” the lawyers noted that Chef Dammy “has every right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution,” adding that the cleric would not be tolerated “to shut her up from speaking on how you have continually blackmailed, manipulated, exploited, bullied, cheated, terrorized, and subjected our client to psychological trauma and emotional pains, ever since the beginning and the end of the 120-hour cook-a-thon and our client’s rejection of your further proposal that she goes into another 150-hour cook-a-thon.”
They noted that further facts have been reserved for necessary reasons, promising that they would be released in due course.
The letter added, “In the light of the foregoing, we hereby state emphatically that all your conducts are driven towards drifting our client away from her mental health and/or psychological well-being, which could have a complex effect of suicide; knowing fully well that you have threatened to kill her (physically or by diabolical means), by the implication effect of your infamous words to her, viz., ‘persons who brought this matter to the first lady would die,’ of which you know and you are fully aware she did make the report with her family involvement; all because she has the nerves to report you to the authorities.”
Restating that the cleric had “without mincing words, brutishly blackmailed, manipulated, exploited, bullied, cheated, terrorized, and subjected our client to psychological trauma and emotional pains, despite her young age and little level of life experience.”
Chef Dammy’s lawyers said, “Our client’s legal rights have been serially violated by you, using several fronts and fora, to which our client is entitled to be compensated in the same line, as the damage has been done to her reputation, mental health, general wellbeing, and life in general, by you.
“Based on the reasons above, we hereby demand the payment of the sum of N500,000,000 forthwith, being compensation for general breaches of our client’s fundamental and/or legal rights by you. We also request that you apologize to our client via your personal and church social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, WhatsApp, and X, formerly Twitter accounts), and also cause the same to be published in three major newspapers read across the length and breadth of Nigeria, for defamation of her character, serial manipulation, exploitation, and other injuries you have caused to her.”
They further reiterated that if the man of God failed, refused, or neglected to yield to the line of our demand above, we would not hesitate to initiate both civil and criminal actions against you before the necessary court and/or institution of competent jurisdiction to claim necessary damages and costs thereto, amidst other attendant dire consequences.”
