Sammy Gyamfi and Afia Schwarzenegger
Chief Executive of Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi has sued social media personality Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa, popularly known as Afia Schwarzenegger for GH¢10 million over what he describes as palpable false statement which is defamatory of his character.
Afia Schwarzenegger, who now resides in the United States, had claimed in a TikTok video that Sammy Gyamfi was “still buying cars for girls in Legon.”
“Tell Sammy Gyamfi’s wife that I am greeting her. Her husband is still buying cars for girls in Legon. I am holding the list. What will make you know that I am holding the list is that I am going to call my informant… So, tell Sammy Gyamfi’s wife that her husband is doing a lot of work at Legon, he is really working there,” she claimed in the video.
She then went on to claim that people close to Sammy Gyamfi, including his wife’s sister recently bought houses in the United States.
“Just a few days ago, his wife’s sister, Vida, came to buy a house in the US. Yes, even his wife’s younger sister has bought a house in the US…,” she added.
Sammy Gyamfi, in a suit filed at a High Court in Accra, contends that the unsubstantiated claims by Afia Schwarzenegger were published and republished by others with her desired aim of defaming him.
He avers that the publication complained of was meant to be and was understood by the Ghanaian public to mean that he is immoral, unfaithful to his wife and to his marital vows, wasteful and irresponsible.
He avers that the words complained of also mean he is an “adulterous man, for which reason he has a list of girlfriends on the campus of University of Ghana despite being married.”
He further avers that the impugned words suggest that he is a person who abuses his position and resources to indulge in inappropriate relationship with young women on university campuses.
The suit further avers that the defamatory statement is understood to mean that Sammy Gyamfi has acquired properties for his wife’s sister in the United States and he is “driven by lust, vanity, and immorality and to that extent a bad example to the youth and the society at large.”
Sammy Gyamfi argues that the publication complained of is not only false but also malicious and deliberately contrived to damage his hard-earned reputation and cause the Ghanaian public to see him as morally depraved and without scruples.
He also argues that by reason of the publication complained of, his reputation has been sullied and he has been made a subject of public ridicule, opprobrium, derision, and contempt.
“Plaintiff avers that the defendant acted maliciously in publishing the said defamatory words which were designed to cause and did in fact caused plaintiff profound distress, anxiety, embarrassment, hatred, ridicule, derision, and opprobrium,” the suit avers.
Sammy Gyamfi contends that Afia Schwarzenegger had no honest belief in the truthfulness of the statement she made and knew she had no evidence to prove same at the time she made the impugned publication.
“Defendant acted with deliberate malice and sought to exploit the plaintiff’s status as a public figure to generate maximum scandal and by that benefit from a growth in her social media standing in terms of following and related commercial advantage that comes with such increase in following,” he added.
He is therefore, asking the court to declare that the impugned statement constitutes a defamation of his character and award general damages as well as exemplary damages of GH¢10 million against Afia Schwarzenegger.
He is also asking the court to order her to retract the publication, render an unqualified apology as well as be restrained from further publishing similar defamatory words concerning him.
Afia Schwarzenegger has eight (8) days within which to enter appearance upon being served with the suit or in default judgement would be entered against her.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak