Prof. George E.T Oduro of the University of Cape Coast has accused Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency in the Central Region for conspiring with online news portals Modern Ghana and Phoenix to publish false news about him for fighting for a vulnerable female Lecturer of the University of Education-Winneba (UEW), Dr. Mercy Oteng who the MP recently had her building project demolished.
Speaking to the media in a press conference held at UCC to debunk the above mentioned news portals recent publications depicting him (Prof. Oduro) to have plagiarized his PHD qualification and also raped a female colleague while schooling at UCC, pointed the MP to be the main face behind the defamatory publications.
Reason being that, the MP earlier came out to state that he (Prof. Oduro) had defamed him by virtue of a post he published at his facebook handle to draw the MP's attention to allegations that it was at his instance that the demolition of the aforementioned UEW Lecturer's building project which according to the Professor was legally acquired and registered took place.
This according to the Prof. Oduro got the MP to deny the fact that he had a hand in the demolition exercise but asked that the facebook post be pull down.
The Professor in his narration stated that he refused to the MP's call over the fact that the actions and inactions of the MP were obvious that he was strategically lying. Having had him threatened him (Prof. Oduro) of a social media war should he decline to remove the Facebook post which subsequently saw the libelous publications about him.
According to the Professor, the MP asked him, "if tomorrow, someone put a post on their social media that Prof. Oduro has raped a student or traded marks for sex, will you come publicly to clarify? I responded, if it’s an allegation, I will clarify and he said he (Afenyo-Markin) won’t publicly clarify.”
“Instead of going on a remorseful resolution tangent, you threatened me to pull down the post.”
"You get slanderous stories published about me with factual inaccuracies because you asked me to remove a post and I refused. You said I got my PHD in UCC when the whole world knows it’s not true.”
“No amount of fabricated stories will intimidate me to pull down that post about Hon. Afenyo-Markin’s insensitive, tyrannical and erroneous destruction that led to the demolition of Dr. Oteng’s building on her properly acquired piece of land.”
“Until the young lady and her husband get justice, the post will never be removed,” the former Pro Vice Chancellor of UCC noted.
Prof. Oduro stated that an MP should be seen protecting the interests of individuals in his constituency, rather than causing them psychological torture.
“A lawyer should not use threat of court action as an intimidatory tool for suppressing the rights of the voiceless in the society”, he maintained.
The UCC Professor indicated that he would petition the Speaker of Parliament to advise Hon. Afenyo-Markin, “the Idi Amin of Effutu” to stop the intimidatory orientation in dealing with the vulnerable.
Subsequently, he would petition the Ghana Bar Association to encourage the MP to resort to the court of law in addressing issues, instead of resorting to threats and harassment.
Prof Oduro said he would further lodge a formal complaint to the police about the fabricated stories and the threats to his family.
“If any unnatural harm is inflicted on any member of the family, Afenyo-Markin and P. K. Sarpong should be held responsible. I have not been moved by the publication in anyway”, the Professor underscored.
He however stated his intention to sue modern ghana, the media Organization that published the plagiarism and rape stories to ‘defame’ him.
Source//Sompaonline.com/Eric Annan