Alison-Madueke: Kevin Okyere, Springfield sue Ghanaian newspapers for defamation

One of the big players in the Ghanaian and Nigerian oil industries, Springfield, and its Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Okyere, have sued some Ghanaian newspapers for defamation.

There have been reports that Okyere and Springfield were involved in the recent allegation of Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Alison-Madueke, on money laundering in the United Kingdom.

Newspapers in Ghana and several online publications in Ghana and Nigeria had accused Okyere of knowing more than meets the eye in the Alison-Madueke saga.

In fact, one of the newspaper in Ghana had to remove the thread of the story on its online version.

But Springfield in a statement on Saturday said the company and its CEO have always played by the rules in the oil industry in countries they do business.

The company does business in Nigeria, Ghana, Gulf of Guinea and with international companies such as BP, Total, Chevron, Glencore and Aker Solutions.

The statement by the company reads: “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. 
”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. 
”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 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. 
”In the same vein, we will robustly defend our companies’ reputation against any media or persons who will attempt to tarnish it.”