May Edochie, the estranged wife of Nollywood actor Yul Edochie, has issued legal threats against her former lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye, and Olayinka “Yinka Theisen” Ajakaiye, the ex-partner of Yul’s elder brother, Linc Edochie.
Through her new legal representatives, LawGray Partners, May served both parties with cease-and-desist notices, accusing them of cyberstalking, cyberbullying, and publishing defamatory statements against her.
In the notices, posted on her verified Facebook page, May demanded immediate public apologies, full retractions of all derogatory remarks, and damages running into N1 billion against Mr Ugwuonye and N500 million against Ms Theisen.
Her lawyers also warned that failure to comply within 48 hours would leave no option but to pursue civil and criminal litigation.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Ugwuonye of Due Process Advocates (DPA) was May’s lawyer in her ongoing divorce proceedings with Yul.
However, in July, Mr Ugwuonye announced that his law firm had withdrawn from representing May, citing harassment, cyberbullying, and other attacks from May’s fan base, popularly known as “May Nation.”
“Withdraw all posts or publications made by you, or caused to be made by you, concerning our client on every medium used in perpetrating these defamatory and malicious acts.
“Take note that failure to comply with the demands herein shall leave us with no other option but to sail through the sea of litigation, both civil and criminal, to enforce our client’s rights, seek reasonable compensation, and ensure her legal protection from your continued menacing actions, without further notice to you,” said May in the cease-and-desist notice.
Mr Ugwuonye’s reply
Reacting to May’s demands, Mr Ugwuonye stated in a Facebook post on Thursday that she appeared confused and under stress, which he described as unfortunate.
He added that, despite their disagreement, he genuinely wished he could support her, as he disliked seeing her in such a troubled state.
“However, I do have to question why she shared that letter publicly. Her actions led thousands of her followers to attack, defame, and bully me.
This alone could provide grounds for me to sue her for damages, but I’ve decided I won’t take legal action against May unless she sues me first. I dislike seeing her in this predicament.
All I wanted was for her to protect herself from May Nation. Assuming the members of May Nation were helping her is the greatest mistake she could make, no other celebrity would behave as she does in relation to them.
“She is exposing herself to unnecessary scrutiny.
Regardless, she should make a statement urging her followers to follow the law and cease the trolling and bullying. If she does this, I will overlook her previous missteps.
I will support her again if she tells May Nation members to stop bullying.
By the way, if May does decide to sue me, it will be a victory for Yul and Judy, as she will need to shift attention from them to focus on me.
Even Yinka will likely celebrate this, as May and her supporters will have to redirect their focus towards me instead.”
Mr Ugwuonye further stated that he was too formidable for May Nation to contend with, adding that any of her supporters who attempted to challenge him would only be wasting their time.
“Also, my memoir is set to be released soon; I hope they read it. They should purchase a copy, even if just to criticise me. In fact, I want them to buy the book and destroy it as a means of hurting me.”
Yinka replies
Meanwhile, Yinka Theisen in her response to the legal threats, described her as a clown in an Instagram post.
She wrote, “Clowns! Bring it on deluded bunch of clowns. Just make my account public again, clowns.”
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This newspaper earlier reported that the feud between Yinka Theisen and May allegedly began after Yinka publicly praised Judy and Yul on Instagram, a gesture which May’s supporters interpreted as a subtle dig at her.
Yinka Theisen, in turn, accused May of paying bloggers to attack the Edochie brothers, claiming they were envious and no better than Judy Austin.