A retired newscaster of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Selma Ramatu Al-Hassan has dragged media personality Blessed Godsbrain Smart, widely known as Captain Smart, and Media General Ghana Limited to the High Court, accusing them of defamation.
The suit, filed at the High Court on January 28, 2026, follows comments allegedly made by Captain Smart during a television broadcast on November 28, 2025, in which he allegedly accused her of having a child out of wedlock with the late former president, Jerry John Rawlings.
“The broadcast insinuated that the plaintiff had an illicit, adulterous, lustful, and immoral affair with former President Rawlings and had a child out of wedlock with him,” the court document stated.
Selma Al-Hassan further noted that the broadcast did not end on television but was subsequently uploaded on the station’s website and was circulated widely on social and electronic media.
She noted that the online engagement triggered “disparaging comments” from members of the public, with some social media users allegedly describing her as “a woman with loose morals and a homebreaker.”
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In her suit, she argued that the broadcast has seriously damaged her image and standing in society, both locally and internationally.
“The widely circulated broadcast has lowered the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society and subjected her to public ridicule, odium, and opprobrium,” the court documents stated.
She further alleged that the publication revived painful personal memories relating to her only child from her legitimate marriage to the late Alhaji Tijani Nagaya, who died in 2004.
The plaintiff is also accusing the defendants of acting maliciously, insisting that they knowingly allowed false content to be aired and deliberately left it online to trend.
“The Defendants deliberately allowed the false broadcast to be telecast and posted on their website and to go viral on social media in a manner that invited mostly disparaging comments from the general public,” it stated.
Reliefs sought
She is asking the court to declare the broadcast defamatory and to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing similar content.
She is also seeking orders compelling the defendants to retract the broadcast and issue a public apology on television, radio, and online platforms, with the same prominence as the original broadcast, on three separate occasions.
Additionally, the plaintiff is demanding punitive damages of GH¢10 million for defamation, as well as costs, including solicitors’ fees.
The defendants have been ordered to enter an appearance within eight days of being served with the writ, failing which judgment may be entered against them in their absence.
Source: ghanaweb.com
