Baffoe-Bonnie Petitions CJ Over Judge

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Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie

The
former Board Chairman of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Eugene
Baffoe-Bonnie, has petitioned the Chief Justice to see to it that Justice Eric
Kyei Baffour recuses himself from the ongoing trial of him and four others
before his court.

His
petition is premised on a video by social media commentator, Kevin Ekow Taylor,
which was posted on a Facebook wall called “With All Due Respect”.

Mr.
Baffoe-Bonnie in his petition alleged that he fears he will not get justice if
the judge continues to hear the matter because of unsubstantiated allegations
made in the Facebook post.

“Your
Lordship, my documented fears/anxieties about not getting a fair trial under
the Lordship Justice Eric Kyei Baffour seem to have been heightened by a recent
development as borne out by a video being circulated in the social media which
was created by a journalist by the name of Kevin Ekow
Taylor. In this video, Kevin Ekow Taylor made some serious allegations against
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour regarding the NCA case. These allegations against
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour are verifiable through an investigation that can be
conducted by your Lordship,” said the petition.

It
continued that, “In this said video, Kevin Ekow Taylor made the following
“summarized” allegations that Justice Eric Kyei Baffour is being manipulated by
this government to achieve a desirable/favourable outcome for the government.
His Lordship Justice Eric Kyei Baffour in one of his earlier court proceedings
in 2019, made a statement to the effect that “he represents the state and
therefore will not tolerate these foolish applications” this was when my
defence counsel had made an application on my behalf. “This allegation made by
Kevin Ekow Taylor against Justice Eric Kyei Baffour as being compromised has
raised some serious concerns/anxieties which will border on miscarriage of
justice if Justice Eric Kyei Baffour does not recuse himself from this case.
Hence, my humble plea to your Lordship for a thorough investigation,” the
petition claimed.

Mr.
Baffoe-Bonnie in the concluding part of his petition added “your Lordship,
based on all these unfortunate incidents of anger expressed by Justice Eric
Kyei Baffour towards me, in addition to the already documented incidents of
glaringly bias behaviour of Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, I have come to a
reasonable conclusion that I will NOT get a fair and just trial under the
Lordship of Justice Eric Kyei Baffour.”

Bench Warrant

An
Accra High Court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour last week issued a
bench warrant for the arrest of a social media commentator, Kelvin Ebo Taylor,
who is believed to be domiciled in the United States.

The
warrant comes at the back of certain derogatory statements made by Taylor on
social media which, according to the court, has put the justice system and the
person of the judge in disrepute.

In
a recent post, the social media commentator on his Facebook page titled “With
All Due Respect” did run a commentary with the headline “The Men in Red,
Tainted Judiciary” where he used the opportunity to make unsubstantiated
allegations against Justice Kyei Baffour.

He made a wild claim that Justice Kyei Baffour who was among a number of High Court judges recently promoted to the Court of Appeal was being used as a conduit by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to prosecute some former NDC government officials and touched on one of the criminal cases before Justice Kyei Baffour’s court where Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie and four others are being tried for allegedly causing financial loss to the state over the purchase of Pegasus cybersecurity equipment.

BY Gibril Abdul Razak