madimage

Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Lighthouse sues Manasseh, Braimah & Co for alleged defamation

Lighthouse sues Manasseh Azure, Braimah, others for alleged defamation

Lighthouse sues Manasseh, Braimah & Co for alleged defamation

Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) has filed three different defamation suits against Manasseh Azure Awuni, an investigative journalist and three others at the Human Rights Court (High Court Division).

The Church, in its statement of claim, held that Mr Azure, an Editor, together with one Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa, Edwin Appiah, a co-editor and the Media Foundation for West Africa, an entity, had among others, published articles, one, titled “Darkness in A Lighthouse” allegedly seeking to launch a scathing and disparaging attack on the Church and its founder, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills.

The articles of the defendants were premised on a suit instituted by the Church’s former pastors.

The suit said, Mr Azure and others, although knew that the matter was pending before the court, allegedly went ahead to make some pronouncement prejudicial to the matter before the court.

The Church is praying for an injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, or agents from further publishing or causing to be published similar words, which are defamatory.

It is also praying for “an order directed to the defendants to ensure the removal of the defamatory articles as well as their re-publication on other media sites from the internet.”

The LCI is praying for damages including, “special aggravated and exemplary damages for libel contained on websites published by the defendants and republication by many local and international media.”

The suit filed on December 10, this year, is further seeking costs involved in the prosecution of the suit.

In the Church’s statement of claim, it said that the LCI was a religious organisation registered in Ghana and shared a common vision of propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ nationwide, including the training of pastors.

The Church averred that since its establishment in 1998, it had been law abiding Church and that the hard work of its founder, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, made itself and worldwide partners, a model for many churches both in Ghana and worldwide.

The plaintiff said the defendants were authors of a website dubbed the “Fourth Estate” and had “hundreds of Thousand followers on other social media handles or platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.”

The plaintiff said in the issue of the Fourth Estate dated April 23, this year,the defendant allegedly wrote an article with the headline “Darkness in a Lighthouse Part I: Pastors recount abuse and trauma”.

The Church alleged the defendants used further defamatory statements such as ” Six Ministers of God laboured for a cumulative 42 years and five months without the payment of their pension contributions.”

The plaintiff said those publications suggested that the Plaintiff as a Christian organisation, falsely and deceptively pretended to give light and spiritual direction to persons seeking God while “indeed and in fact”, the plaintiff practised the “exact opposite.”

According to the plaintiff, the publication sought to portray that the Church used means of “cunning and subterfuge to lure people desirous of doing God’s work into its fold” and ” makes a shipwreck of their faith, leading them to hell instead of heaven.”

Source: africaneditors.com

Lighthouse sues Manasseh Azure, Braimah, others for alleged defamation

There is a good reason why you should support the African Editors. Not everyone can afford to pay for news right now. That is why we keep our journalism open for everyone to read, including in Ghana. If this is you, please continue to read for free. But if you are able to, then there are three good reasons to support us today.

1. Our quality, journalism is a scrutinising force at a time when the rich and powerful are getting away with more and more.

2. We are independent and have no billionaire owner pulling the strings, so your money directly powers our reporting.

3. It doesn’t cost much, and takes less time than it took to read this message.

Help power the African Editors' journalism for the years to come, whether with a small sum or a larger one. If you can, please support us on a monthly basis from just 1 Ghana Cedi through mobile money number: 0599896099/ +23359989609 and you can be rest assured that you’re making a big impact every single month in support of open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

You May Also Like

Video

Kagame Tells Europe that Africa Doesn’t Need Adult Supervision but Fair Trade.    There is a good reason why you should support the African...

Video

At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos.

Health

Neglected tropical diseases rising in E/R- GHS Eastern Regional Health Directorate says there is disturbing increase in cases of neglected tropical Diseases in the...

News

Daasebre Oti Boateng introduces Root-Based Model to Akufo-Addo, Bawumia, commends them for 2021 Census & Covid-19 fight Omanhene of New Juaben, Chancellor of All...

Copyright © 2023, Africaneditors.com Ltd was developed by Wordswar Technology & Investment, Inc. Contact us on +233246187160

%d bloggers like this: