Tony Aidoo's Lawyer still pleads for an amicable settlement!

The Crusading carries that the controversial Dr Tony Aidoo, ex-Deputy Minister of Defence, was absent at the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) during the hearing of a case involving him and Sedi Bansah, the paper’s reporter, last Tuesday.

Though Tony's Lawyer, Mr Cletus Avoka was present, the paper gathered that the ex-Deputy Minister, was away in Kumasi attending to a private issue.

For the second time, after Avoka had dismissed the Ghana Journalists Association's petition against his client as not worthy of consideration by the GHRAJ, he urged the Commissioner, Mr Emile Short to use his position to see to the amicable solution of the matter before him (Short).

According to Avoka, the GJA and Sedi Bansah should be morally persuaded to drop the case against Dr Tony Aidoo, considering the fact that Dr Aidoo had lost his job as a State Minister.

Not only that, Avoka indicated that his client had joined the army of the jobless in the street, losing his car and his house as well, with the NDC’s loss of the last elections.

Avoka said, he believed that the objective of the petition was to "pull the ears of Tony Aidoo" in order to restrain him from using his office to perpetuate arbitrariness and since he (Tony Aidoo) had lost his office there was no need for the pursuit of the case to its logical conclusion.

The Commissioner, however, said the GJA, should be allowed to amend its petition and come back "properly" as demanded by Avoka.

Sedi Bansah is also to be joined with the GJA in bringing an action against Tony Aidoo.

Bansah on the 19th of September, 2000 was arrested on the orders of Dr. Tony Aidoo by the Army and the Police while he was seeking a clarification on an allegation of assault supposed to have been meted out by Tony Aidoo against one James Adayuga then of Jerrock Rangers Security Agency.