The Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has filed a law suit against a National Democratic Congress(NDC) activist, Dela Coffie for what he describes as “defamatory” and malicious statements made against him by the latter.
Franklin Cudjoe is demanding 11 million Cedis in damages for defamation.
Dela Coffie, who is the first defendant is expected to pay 10 million while the second defendant, Michael Dokosi is expected to pay 1 million cedis.
According to him, Dela Coffie in three separate publications released on the 16th, 19th and 22nd January respectively published falsehood about him.
In one of the publications, the newspaper said Franklin Cudjoe was on a lying spree and had lied that he is a “doctoral fellow when there was nothing like doctoral fellow.”
The story which was under the headline, “Franklin Cudjoe goes on lying spree” further alleged that he “lied that he was an alumunus of Havard while he had never attended Harvard.”
The publication also revealed that Franklin Cudjoe had said he was a “John Templeton award winner in 2006 even though the award winner was Prof. John. D. Barrow.”
However a writ of summons issued on March 20, 2015 indicated that “a declaration that the statements set out in Paragraph 19 of the statement of claim, which statements were written and published on the front page and at page 3 of the Daily Post newspaper dated 16th January, 2015 under the headline ‘Meet Franklin Cudjoe The Liar’ and with a photograph of the plaintiff are false, malicious and defamatory.”
Mr Cudjoe is also asking for a retraction and an unqualified apology for the publications.
He is also praying the court to place an injunction on a second defendant , to hinder him from writing in any other way, publishing the “same or similar defamatory statements” about the plaintiff.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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