Kwabena Agyapong hauls Wontumi before court but Wontumi says it’s a bait

The suspended General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has dragged the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako, and the Multimedia Group before the High Court over alleged defamatory comments.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, according to the suit, made statements that sought to defame Mr Agyapong on Kumasi-based Nhyira FM and Accra-based Neat FM.

Chairman Wontumi is alleged to have said that the indefinitely suspended NPP General Secretary betrayed his party by associating with elements of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in a bid to work against the NPP.

Lawyers for the embattled general secretary are seeking from the court “an order compelling the first defendant to immediately cause to be retracted the defamatory statement via the same medium used in making them, thus, through the frequency modulation of the second defendant and to render an unqualified apology to the plaintiff via the same media.

“An order of the court compelling the first defendant to write a letter personally addressed to the plaintiff admitting his comments were untrue and unfortunate and give his tacit commitment never again to spew such falsehood and scandalous defamatory remarks on the person of the plaintiff," the writ stated.

Retraction

In a letter dated October 30, 2017, Mr Agyapong’s lawyer, Nana Freduah Agyeman Osborn, said his client was requesting a retraction on Nhyira FM and Accra-based Neat FM where the said defamatory comments were made on Friday, November 3, 2017.

Mr Agyapong's counsel said his client wanted a formal apology letter sent to him, in addition to an assurance that such statements would not be made against Agyapong on any platform again.

“Sir, our client in unequivocal terms has denied ever betraying the NPP or ever having any compromising association with the NDC or anyone associated with it.

“Sir, despite the clear absence of a scintilla evidence implicating our client, our client says that you have engaged in an untoward conduct of tarnishing his image by spewing slanderous, defamatory statements to persons our client has or may potentially have dealings with and the general public for that matter.

“Sir, tangible enough is your statements on the aforementioned radio station dated October 28, 2017 on Nhyira FM 104.5, Kumasi where you made defamatory statements, without any legal justification or lawful excuse against our client, which statements, no doubt, are palpable falsehood,” parts of the letter indicated.

Slanderous statement

“In the said slanderous statement you stated that: ‘Kwabena Agyapong, when he was General Secretary, stooped so low by collecting a plush car from Ibrahim Mahama with the motive of working against the NPP so that the NDC would win the 2016 election on a silver platter’.

“On Neat FM in Accra, you also stated that: ‘Last year by this time, some people were working hard to see NPP lose the election and Kwabena Agyapong is one of them,” the letter further explained.

Mr Agyapong is asking the court to issue “an order compelling the first defendant [Mr Antwi-Boasiako] to immediately cause to be retracted the defamatory statement via the same medium used in making them [comments], thus through the frequency modulation of the second defendant and to render an unqualified apology to the plaintiff via the same media”.

He also wants “an order of the court compelling the first defendant to pay an amount of GH¢400, 000 as punitive and exemplary damages to the plaintiff [him]  for the defamatory comments”.

Wontumi’s response

Meanwhile, in a response, the Ashanti regional chairman of the NPP is accusing the suspended general secretary of using him to revive his political career.

Chairman Wontumi claimed the embattled general secretary was using him as a bait to force the NPP leadership to give him back his position.

In an interview on Adom News, he called the bluff of Mr Agyapong.

The outspoken NPP chairman maintained that any move to reinstate the suspended general secretary would cause an uproar in the party.

He had earlier called the bluff of Mr Agyapong who threatened legal action against him over the alleged comments.

He also dared the embattled general secretary to drag him to court if he (Agyapong) so wished.