Selma Ramatu Al-Hassan, a retired newscaster of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), has filed a defamation lawsuit at the High Court in Accra against media personality Captain Smart and Media General Ghana Limited, owners of Onua Television, seeking GH¢10 million in damages.
The suit, filed on January 28, 2026, follows comments allegedly made by Captain Smart during a television broadcast on November 28, 2025, which the plaintiff claims were false, malicious, and damaging to her reputation.
According to court documents, the broadcast accused Selma Al-Hassan of having a child out of wedlock with the late former President Jerry John Rawlings. The statements, she contends, suggested that she engaged in an illicit, adulterous and immoral relationship with the former president and bore a child as a result.
The plaintiff argues that the programme did not end with its television airing but was subsequently uploaded onto Onua TV’s website and widely circulated across social media and electronic platforms. She says the online engagement triggered a wave of disparaging comments from members of the public, with some social media users allegedly describing her as a woman with loose morals and a home breaker.
In her statement of claim, Selma Al-Hassan maintains that the publication severely damaged her image and standing in society, both locally and internationally, and exposed her to public ridicule, contempt and opprobrium.
She further states that the broadcast reopened painful personal memories relating to her only child from her legitimate marriage to the late Alhaji Tijani Nagaya, who passed away in 2004. According to her, the allegations were not only untrue but deeply distressing and injurious to her dignity.
The defendants in the case include Blessed Godsbrain Smart, popularly known as Captain Smart, who is listed as the first defendant; the Chief Executive Officer of Onua Television as the second defendant; Onua Television as the third defendant; and Media General Ghana Limited as the fourth defendant.
Selma Al-Hassan is accusing the defendants of acting maliciously, alleging that they knowingly allowed false content to be aired, deliberately permitted it to remain online, and failed to prevent it from trending on social media despite its defamatory nature.
She is asking the court to declare the broadcast defamatory and to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing or circulating 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 publication, on three separate occasions.
In addition, the plaintiff is demanding punitive damages of GH¢10 million for defamation, as well as legal costs, including solicitors’ fees.
The High Court has ordered the defendants 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 GHARTICLE*