SUGHA smoke peace pipe with aggrieved members

Accra, Aug 17, GNA - The protracted legal tussle between Mr Sarfo Abrebrese, Founder of the Supporters Union of Ghana (SUGHA) and the Coalition of the Supporters Union of Africa (COSUA) as well as some aggrieved members has been amicably settled.

This follows the withdrawal of six counts of fraud leveled against Mr Abrebrese by some aggrieved members of the group at an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Justice N.E.K. Osam, in Accra last Thursday. According to the prosecutor, Mr John Nyatuameh, the withdrawal was due to the acceptance of responsibility by SUGHA as well as the refund of appropriate monies to the affected persons.

Mr Nyatuameh said after receiving all the payments from the Union on behalf of the aggrieved persons, prosecution has no option than to withdraw the cases against Mr Abrebrese, adding that the spokesperson for the complainants Godfred Owusu has endorsed relevant documents to that effect at the Police Head Quarters in Accra.

Mr Harry Awuah Baffour, National Coordinator of SUGHA told GNA Sports that the decision was in the right direction and it has come a relief to members and that he was satisfied that the Union had finally been able to make good its promise to pay off the debts.

He gave the assurance that all other forms of indebtedness that the Union had incurred over the past years, mainly through orchestrated abortive trips would be settled in due course.

Mr Baffour said that before the two groups were launched, some of its members had been subjected to several forms of intimidation and physical attacks, including an incidence at Port Said (Egypt 2006), which culminated in the vandalization of Ghana's national flag by their assailants as well as the orchestrated incarceration leading to the deportation of a group of SUGHA members including Abebrese himself, from Tunisia and Italy in May 2006.

The National Coordinator said allegations of fraud against the Founder of SUGHA emanated partly from an ignorant public and partly from mischief by some people.

Mr Baffour explained that such moves were aimed at disgracing the founder of the Union and to inhibit him from realizing the COSUA dream, and cited a situation when Mr Abrebrese who was invited by the African Union (AU) to South Africa to address the African Year of Football Conference in 2007, was rather arrested on the day of his departure by a court warrant and described the situation as ridiculous.

He wondered why a major newspaper in Ghana would publish a story about Mr Abrebrese claiming he had defrauded eight people to the tune of 14.8 million U.S. Dollars without the facts.

Mr Baffour described the publication as incredible and an attempt to tarnish their founder's image.

"At a time when Mr Abrebrese has been hailed and described in various foreign countries as a modern-day Kwame Nkrumah, he is being persecuted in his own home country, especially at a time when his vision for African Unity has received such resounding acceptance across Africa and beyond", Mr Baffour added.

He pleaded with Ghanaians to stop sabotaging the mission of Sarfo Abrebrese as he continues with his crusade by personally travelling through to all the 53 countries of Africa to mobilise support for the continent towards the 2010 World Cup, adding that records of his African tour are available on the internet, magazines and other mediums from all the countries he has visited.

Mr Baffour said that the South African government has granted Mr Abebrese a six-year residence permit with the Sports Ministry assisting in the running of the COSUA 2010 Operations office in Johannesburg.