Defamation: Okyere, Springfield Energy Sue Ghanaian Newspapers

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Sunday, October 11th, 2015

BALTIMORE, MD (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Springfield Energy Company has stated that it will take legal action against a number of Ghanaian based newspapers for publishing falsehood about the company and its Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Okyere, according to a press release by the energy firm.

The company said that four Newspapers, The New Statesman, The Al-Hajj, Herald and The Republic “published rumours” that were “false, baseless and calculated to do untold harm to our business interests and undermine our hard-won reputation.”

“Our Chief Executive, Kevin Okyere, continues to enjoy his reputation as one of the youngest industry CEO’s around the world. We state categorically that these published rumours are false, baseless and calculated to do untold harm to our business interests and undermine our hard-won reputation. We will continue to play our part in the development of the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Guinea to the benefit of our people.

“We view with great concern rumours emanating from the segment of the social, print and electronic media that our company is one of those involved in unwholesome activities in the Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria, ” the firm said in a weekend statement.

The statement signed by George Ayebah, Head, HR and Public Affairs, stated that “For nearly a decade, we have worked with reputable companies such as Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) within the Gulf of Guinea and internationally, BP, Total, Chevron, Glencore, Aker Solutions, etc. In all these dealings, we have abided by all industry regulations and successfully met all our financial obligations to these partners.”

“We have instructed our lawyers to file lawsuits against The New Statesman, The Al-Hajj, Herald and The Republic for participating in the publication of falsehood against our CEO, Kevin Okyere and our company relating to our businesses in Ghana and Nigeria. We would like to use this opportunity to thank those media houses who have asked for our own side of the story before publishing. ”

The company said it would robustly defend its reputation against any media or persons who attempts to tarnish it.