Dr. Tony Aubynn, the former CEO of the Minerals Commission, has filed a civil lawsuit for defamation against Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana.
Ignite Media Group was added as a second defendant by the plaintiff, who named Adom-Otchere as the first defendant in the action filed on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Dr. Aubynn, who is currently the Abakoma-Akyempimhene of the Damang-Wassa Division of the Wassa’s Fiase Division of the Western region, argues that Mr. Adom-Otchere’s remarks against him are meant to devalue him in the eyes of rational people.
Therefore, he is asking the High Court in Accra to order Adom-Otchere to provide him with a “retraction and an unqualified apology” “using the same media platforms used in publishing the defamatory statements complained of.”
Additionally, the Plaintiff is requesting a perpetual injunction order that would prevent the Defendants and their assigns from publishing anything more or from “circulating any other similar defamatory words touching and/or otherwise concerning the Plaintiff herein.”
The plaintiff argues that these remarks “in their true and natural sense have exposed the plaintiff to public ridicule and contempt in the eyes of right-thinking members of society.”‘
Ten million Ghana Cedis (GH¢10,000,000.00) in punitive and exemplary damages are also sought by the plaintiff against the defendants.
“The Defendants intentionally published the aforementioned defamatory statements and caused them to be widely circulated and distributed, knowing very well that they were false and/or with no honest belief in the truthfulness of the claims, in order to whip up negative public sentiments against the Plaintiff,” the Plaintiff stated in his Statement of Claims.
The aforementioned articles were purposefully, intentionally, and/or carelessly published on the aforementioned show by the defendants without taking into account the potential injury to the plaintiff’s reputation that such false statements could cause.
To accomplish his goal of defaming the Plaintiff, the First Defendant lied frequently and with confidence that the Plaintiff was the source of the allegations made by the aforementioned “second speaker.”
According to the Plaintiff’s statement of claim, “The Defendants failed, neglected, and/or purposefully refused or failed to contact the Plaintiff directly to clear all or any doubts about whether or not the Plaintiff was in fact the second speaker or made the statements ascribed to him and to cross-check the claims contained in the impugned publications,” even though they had full knowledge of the Plaintiff’s contact information and/or the means to obtain it.
