Gambia President Barrow sues newspaper Editor
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Gambian President Adama Barrow has filed a suit against the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of The Voice newspaper, Mr. Musa S. Sheriff.
President Barrow filed the suit against Mr. Sheriff and The Voice newspaper company, claiming damages “on the footing of aggravated or exemplary damages".
He is seeking an injunction to "restrain Mr. Sheriff and The Voice, by themselves or by their servants or agents or otherwise howsoever, from the publication of the said words or any of them or of any similar words or any words to the like effect, damages, costs and such further or other orders as the High Court shall deem fit to make”.
Mr. Sheriff is to appear before the High Court in Banjul on 25 October to answer the suit filed by against him.
According to the suit: “On Monday, 23rd September, 2024, Mr. Sheriff and The Voice falsely and maliciously wrote and printed and published or caused to be written, printed and published, on the front page of the said newspaper dated Monday the 23rd day of September 2024 and concerning the Plaintiff “BARROW CHOOSES MUHAMMED JAH AS SUCCESSOR AS PRES. WORKS ON EXIT PLAN-SOURCES” on the top of a photograph of the Plaintiff and a Gambian businessman called Muhammed Jah.”
The President said ethe story was understood to mean “President Barrow was no longer interested in being President of The Gambia, that the President does not intend to be flag-bearer of the NPP in the 2026 election."
The story, he added, meant Mr. Barrow’s party cannot rely on what he tells them, that the President is not a man of his word and cannot be trusted.
Also, it meant that the "Mr. Barrow has chosen Muhammed Jah as his successor, that the President has handed his position as flagbearer of the NPP to Muhammed Jah, that there was a ceremony where this handover took place, that the NPP are unhappy with Barrow’s decision, that Barrow was guilty of choosing Muhammed Jah as his successor without any consultation with or knowledge of the NPP.
The suit said the President has “been injured in its credit and reputation and has been brought into public scandal, odium, and contempt”.
Mr. Barrow’s lawyer claimed that Mr. Sheriff and The Voice newspaper published the said words out of malice or spite towards President Barrow.
-0- PANA MSS/MA 17Oct2024
