Broadcast journalist Dan Kweku Yeboah and his media station Peace FM have been hit with a defamation lawsuit by former Ghana Football Association (GFA) president Kwesi Nyantakyi, who is requesting 10 million cedis in damages. The former FIFA Executive Council member has also taken two online portals, Pulse Ghana and Ghanaweb, to court on charges that he embezzled $2 million while serving as GFA President. The GFA's president until his resignation in 2018 due to the Anas Exposé, Nyantakyi, claims the accusations are untrue and "reckless and defamatory."
Nyantakyi's lawsuit claims that other media websites were involved in the case because they disseminated Dan Kweku Yeboah's unfounded allegations using their platforms. In a complaint, Nyantakyi claims that Yeboah and these publications published disparaging comments that accused him of stealing from the GFA's funds, seriously harming his reputation. In other words, "President Kwesi Nyantakyi went to Unibank alone and withdrew GFA's two million dollars ($2m) and embezzled or misappropriated it for his personal benefit," according to the lawsuit.
The complaint claims that Yeboah's remarks, as reported by the media outlets mentioned, were not only untrue but also published with the intention of defaming him. It further claims that these accusations have caused him undue grief in the public eye and harm in his career. "The statement of first defendant was a wicked, malicious, and deliberate falsehood published by first defendant to court hatred, opprobrium, public dislike and reduce the image of the Plaintiff in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society," the complaint stated.
Nyantakyi's contention that the remarks were made without any attempt to verify the material from credible sources is also supported by the lawsuit, which calls the outlets' publication of the accusations irresponsible journalism. Through his lawyer, he is suing the defendants to get a formal retraction and Gh¢10 million in damages.