Lawyer & Others On Trial For Forgery

By Alfred K. Dogbey

Mr. Evans Djikunu Gadetoh, the disqualified parliamentary aspirant of the Ave-Avenor Constituency for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and four other members of his campaign team are in the grips of the law for fraudulently forging signatures of some individuals during the just ended primaries.

Lawyer Djikunu, a lawyer and author of an English Book entitled, “The Last Hour” and his accomplices have been arrested and dragged to Ho Circuit Court, where they have been slapped with four charges; “conspiracy to commit crime, forgery of document, possessing forged documents and uttering forged documents”.

Interestingly, Lawyer Djikunu unaware of the criminal case, had hurriedly dragged the Constituency Secretary, The Herald, The Ghanaian Times and Daily Graphic newspapers and some reporters who had published a press release from the Constituency Secretary about the forgery incident, to court for defamation, demanding a whopping GH¢ 2million as damages.

The accused pleaded not guilty for the four count charges but were later granted bail to the tune of GH¢ 5000.00. The case was adjourned to April 11, 2012.

Briefing the court about the facts of the case, Prosecuting Officer, Mr. J.K Afeyizu said that on December 24, 2011, the first the accused person (Lawyer Djikunu) in the company of William Kwadzo Dahume, Richard Agorkpa, Ahiave Samuel Huzey and Lawrence Kabbla Awunyo (retired soldier) submitted Mr. Djikunu’s nomination forms to the Ave-Avenor Constituency executives of the NDC party for vetting.

According to the requirement of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, “only card bearing members and people of good standing can endorse the nomination forms for an aspirant”, the prosecutor narrated.

“However, on December 24, 2011, when the Constituency executives started scrutinizing the first accused person’s nomination forms, it was discovered that the party ID card number columns were left blanked”, said the prosecutor.

The executives then decided to carry out a background check on the people who endorsed the forms for Lawyer Djikunu, who is also a Business Law Lecturer at the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS),.

In the process, the prosecutor said that, “names and signatures of Agbenyega Atsidiga, Evelyn Sedzro and Atsuvia Obed were found on the forms purported to be forged.”

Upon contacting the above names, “they told the constituency executives that they did not sign the nomination forms for Mr. Djikunu and stated that their names and signatures were forged and therefore reported the case to the Akatsi Police where Dahume, Agorkpa, Huzey and Awunyo were arrested. They, however, denied the allegations”.

The prosecutor told the court that “their specimen signatures and those of the complainants were collected for forensic analysis at the Police Forensic Laboratory, Accra.”

He said, “a report was later received which stated that the signatures on Mr. Djikunu’s nomination forms were not authored by the complainants. Mr. Djikunu was later arrested and after investigations, they were all charged and arraigned before court.”

On March 28, 2012, when the charges were preferred against Mr. Djikunu and his accomplices, the IPS lecturer was spotted heavily soaked in sweat and had to loose his tie. He later took off his coat, just to catch some fresh air.

He was accompanied by members of his campaign team nicknamed MOCHAD.

He has, meanwhile, claimed in his GH¢ 2million defamation case, that the reports carried by “Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times and The Herald” from a press conference that he forged the signatures of some delegates on his nomination form is libelous.

In the writ, Mr. Djikunu is begging the court to refrain the newspapers from further publishing the forgery scandal.

He said “the Defendants knew or ought to know that the Plaintiff is a young, upcoming Ghanaian politician and therefore any such publication would dent his reputation and also lower his self-esteem”.

“ He said that the Defendants knew or ought to have known that he the plaintiff is a law lecturer at the Institute of Professional Studies, Legon” adding that “he the Plaintiff is a private legal practitioner and therefore the said publication would damage his reputation in and around Ghana”.

Mr. Djikunu further went on to brag that “the defendants knew the Plaintiff is a well-known author of an English Book entitled, ‘The Last Hour’ and other textbooks, and that such publications would cause an irreparable damage to his reputation in the eyes of all those who patronize his books In Junior and Senior High Schools in Ghana, including teachers.”

Apart from Mr. Djikunu’s “exemplary” GH¢ 2million demand as damages, he is also crying for a “perpetual injunction, restraining the Defendants from further publishing or causing to be published the said words or any words of defamatory”.