The University Student whose petition halted the vetting of Mrs. Catherine Afeku, Government Spokesperson on Infrastructure, as NPP parliamentary aspirant for EvalueGwira constituency has been dragged to a Sekondi High Court by the latter for libel.

Mrs. Afeku is seeking punitive and exemplary damages for libel and perpetual injunction restraining Baffoe Habakkuk (defendant), a student, from further publishing libelous words concerning Afeku and her husband, Seth Afeku (1st and 2nd plaintiff respectively).

It would be recalled that the said student petitioned the Vetting Committee of the NPP about the alleged fraudulent visa deals by Catherine Afeku and her husband Seth Afeku.

In a statement of claim filed by Mr. Seth Awuku of Animens Chambers in Takoradi, on behalf of the plaintiffs, they contended that they were shocked that the defendant could cause such defamatory letter to be published in some major newspapers, including the Monday April 14th edition of The Chronicle.

As a result, words used by the defendant in the said publication were understood to refer to the plaintiffs and especially to the 2nd herein, and have thus lowered the reputation of the plaintiffs in the estimation of right thinking members of society.

The plaintiffs asserted that the defendant on a true construction of his defamatory letter willfully and wittingly, callously and maliciously wrote and publicized the said letter with the intent to cause a lot of infuriation, melancholy, exasperation, discomfiture, mortification and a dent on the hard and respected reputation of the plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs also contended that the letter to the NPP chairman was fictitious and fictional, conjured and concocted, in that the Afekus have not done anything immoral towards the said Matilda Agyemang, Samuel Nokoe and Michael Nokoe as mentioned in the said letter to the NPP.

To the plaintiffs, the defendant's reference to the two, particularly (Samuel and Joseph Nokoe) as having fallen prey to their deals is vexatious and rancorous, calculated to vilify and blemish their reputation.

This is because, at no time in point did they (Catherine Afeku and husband) defraud the said persons mentioned in defendant's letter to the Vetting Committee of the NPP.

To this end, plaintiffs averred that their reputation have been seriously damaged and have been put in a very bad light.

As a result, the plaintiffs are claiming exemplary and punitive damages and unless restrained the defendant intends to publish further libelous, slanderous and defamatory matters concerning the plaintiffs.


Source: The Chronicle