GFA boss slaps Songo and Abatay with $3m lawsuit

Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi has filed a defamation and libel lawsuit against one of the country’s media houses Asempa FM and two of its sports presenters for labelling him as a thief after ‘years of consistent lies and negative campaigns’ against him.

Multimedia Group Limited, the holding company of Asempa FM, and two of its sports presenters Patrick Osei-Agyemang affectionately called Countryman Songo and Ultimate Sports Morning Show host Kofi Asare-Brako have been served the writs of defamation.

The lawsuit claims that false reports about him were “broadcasted by Asempa FM throughout the world” via the internet and has severely damaged his reputation. Lawyers for Nyantakyi are seeking punitive damages for libellous statements calculated at damaging his reputation in the eyes of the public.

He says Asempa FM and its reporters damaged his reputation and he is seeking 10 million GhC10m ($3m) in the suit.

The lawsuit comes two weeks after the Ghana FA announced a public boycott of Asempa FM for the ‘consistent lies calculated to demonize the federation in the eyes of Ghanaians with false and one-sided reports’.

The lawsuit, filed at the Fast Track court in Accra, said the reports on him by the radio station were “false and malicious” and he is armed with over 100 recordings of the programmes which have been marked as slanderous.

Nyantakyi said their claims have caused him “humiliation” and “distress” and that he “has been subjected to unfathomable amounts of ridicule and public scorn”.

The legal challenge has got wide implications for Asempa FM as Nyantakyi holds international positions on Swiss-based organisation FIFA, CAF and he is also the leader of the West Africa Football Union (WAFU).

Nyantakyi had previously warned that he would consider filing a defamation lawsuit against the two reporters and their radio station for repeatedly making slanderous and libellous statements and claims about him.