The Lighthouse Chapel International is up in arms against Manasseh Azure for what the church considers unjustified and illegal attacks against it and it’s founder Bishop Dag Heward-Mills in the publication of 3 articles titled ‘’Darkness in a Lighthouse’’. In what comes as a tripled barreled counterattack, the church has filed 3 separate suits against Manasseh Azure, Suleman Braimah, Edwin Appiah and Media Foundation For West Africa for defamation.
The suits were filed on 10th December 2021. According to the Statements of Claim, in April 2021 Manasseh Azure and the 3 others together published a trio of articles titled “Darkness in A Lighthouse” in which they launched scathing and disparaging attacks on the LCI and its founder Bishop Dag Heward-Mills. The articles sent shock waves and bolts of thunderstorms across the country and into the international media space considering the vast international presence of the Lighthouse Chapel International and the hosts of international churches and establishments that work with the LCI. There are LCI churches in 95 countries across the world.
MEDIA TRIAL AND PUBLICATIONS PREJUDICIAL TO PENDING COURT ACTION
The 3 articles are premised on 6 suits filed against the church by 6 of it’s former pastors. In the defamations suits filed against Manasseh Azure and co. the LCI decries the fact that Manasseh and co. knew very well that the subject matter the publications were already in court and yet they went ahead and made pronouncements that are prejudicial to the determination of the cases in court.
Portions of the Statements of claims read as follows:
‘’The substance of the publication was a one-sided, highly prejudicial reproduction, more or less, of selected portions of the statement of claim of six plaintiffs who had commenced separate suits against the Plaintiff, at all material times when the Plaintiff had not been served with the court processes;
Notwithstanding that the Plaintiff delivered defences to each of the said six suits to the Defendants’ knowledge, the Defendants deliberately refused or failed to publish the said defences or with the same prominence as that of the plaintiffs in these suits, thereby ensuring that the reading public could only have a jaundiced and prejudicial view of the matters in court;
By such posturing the Defendants had already determined the outcome of the six suits in the minds of the public such that if the trial or trials ended in the Plaintiff’s favour, the public would conclude that justice has not been served;
SSNIT REPORT
Despite the release of the SSNIT report exonerating the LCI Manasseh Azure, Edwin Appiah, Sulemana Braimah and Media Foundation For West Africa continued publishing articles accusing the church of non-payment of SSNIT contributions and casting all manner of aspersions against the church and SSNIT as an institution.
BRIEF PROFILES OF LCI AND BISHOP DAG HEWARD-MILLS
Giving brief profiles of the LCI and it’s founder Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, the Statements of Claim state in their opening paragraphs as follows;
1. Plaintiff has since its establishment in 1988 been a law-abiding church and has managed by a conscious effort of hard work bordering on credibility and integrity, and through the unique leadership skills of its founder, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, made itself and worldwide partners a model for many churches, both in Ghana and worldwide.
2. Bishop Dag Heward-Mills a Medical Doctor by profession, is also a best-selling author of over 30 million copies of his books in print with translations in more than 52 international languages. He is also one of the most seasoned, renowned and a reputable religious leaders of Ghana whose impact on the Plaintiff has made Plaintiff and its partner LCI churches a global icon.
3. Further, through annual conferences organized by the Plaintiff in Accra dubbed “Give Thyself Wholly”, over 10,000 pastors and church leaders from over 40 countries in all 5 continents of the world come to Accra each year to listen to teachings and learn from books written by the Plaintiff’s founder.
DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS
Below are some of the statements the LCI complained of as defamatory in the suits :
i.”six ministers of God laboured for a cumulative 42 years and five months without the payment of their pension contributions … ”
ii. “there is some darkness in the Lighthouse Chapel International”
iii.”there are more silent victims among the 111 bishops and over 2,300 pastors of Lighthouse”
iv. “while the church was quick to deduct tithe, it was slow in paying his [Edward Laryea] pension contribution …. In effect, the church took what belonged to God, but denied Caesar what was Caesar’s.”
v. “I [Larry Odonkor] did not sign a form to be cheated ”
vi” … For three years, he [Faith Fiakojo] … was not paid any salary. And when he did receive any payment, it was GH¢300.00 a month.”
vii. “the pastors speak of exploitation by the church, which started in the form of a policy; undue pressure to raise funds, which turned them into beggars· and psychological effects of their ordeals, which drove one them[ Seth Duncan] to attempt suicide three times and also cut his scrotum.
viii. ‘the founder told him [Oko Mensah] once again on September 28 2018, to divorce his wife ”
NATURAL MEANINGS OF THE WORDS COMPLAINED OF IN THE SUITS
According to the Statements of Claim, “In their natural and ordinary meaning, the said words quoted in the Publication meant and were understood to mean that:
i. the Plaintiff as a Christian organization falsely and deceptively pretends to give light and spiritual direction to persons seeking God whiles in deed and in fact the Plaintiff practices the exact opposite;
ii. The Plaintiff uses 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;
iii. The Plaintiff is guilty of the criminal conduct of deliberately failing or refusing to pay its employees’ social security contributions, contrary to the National Pensions (Act 2008), Act 766;
iv. the Plaintiff is not only intolerant, but extremely callous, insensitive, inconsiderate and cold-hearted in its treatment of, and abandonment of its volunteers and employees with exacting demands calculated to hound them out of their posts; and
(v ) contrary to scripture, or the best practice in Christendom, the Plaintiff or alternatively its founder or acting by its founder, rather actively encourages and subjects its members, including the highest ranking, to divorce their spouses through undue influence, pressure and other subtle methods.
SOME OF THE RELIEFS LCI IS SEEKING FROM THE COURT
“i. Damages, including special, aggravated and exemplary damages for libel contained on websites published by the Defendants herein and re-published by many local and international media;
ii.An injunction restraining the Defendants and each of them, whether by themselves, their servants, or agents or otherwise, from further publishlng or causing to be published the said or similar words defamatory of the Plaintiff;
iii.An order directed to the Defendants to publish with equivalent prominence to the same medium a suitable apology in terms to be agreed by the parties or approved by the Plaintiff and for the same to be archived on Defendants’ website so as to remain searchable to users of the said website and Facebook accounts;
iv..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;