Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine has commenced legal proceedings against a social commentator on Facebook, Evron Hughes, for a post he made on the Ameri deal.
On December 21 last year, Hughes’s made a post concerning the $510m deal to acquire turbines to solve the power crisis, a deal which a Norwegian newspaper claimed the price had been inflated by the Power Minister.
The Deputy AG’s suit says claims made by Hughes defamed him, and caused public disaffection to build against him.
According to him, Hughes post has caused his hard won reputation as a “respected politician, teacher and lawyer” to be sullied into “hatred, ridicule, odium, discredit, contempt, opprobrium and reproach”.
The defendant, Evron Hughes, is an Investment Banker and Economist who also describes himself as a political strategist. He comments on matters of national import on his page.
Mr Ayine seeks the following reliefs against the defendant…
- A declaration that the publications to the effect that Plaintiff is corrupt, a thief and fraudulent, are defamatory of Plaintiff.
- General damages for libel against Defendant for publishing the aforesaid words of and concurring in Plaintiff in his Facebook posts.
- An order of the Honourable Court directed at the Defendant to publish a retraction and an apology with the same prominence as the defamatory words in the Facebook posts.
- An injunction restraining the Defendant whether by themselves, their servants or agents or otherwise from authorizing permitting and/or causing to be published the same or similar words defamatory of the Plaintiffs.
- Costs including lawyer’s fees.
Facebook seems to really be getting people into trouble these days.