{"id":93016,"date":"2025-09-07T03:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T03:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93016"},"modified":"2025-09-07T03:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T03:35:15","slug":"ndc-refutes-orchestrating-cjs-removal-cites-petitioners-longstanding-legal-history-with-torkornoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93016","title":{"rendered":"NDC refutes orchestrating CJ\u2019s removal, cites petitioner\u2019s longstanding legal history with Torkornoo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 11 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>A presidential staffer, Beatrice Annangfio, has come forward to clarify that the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo was not a politically motivated act orchestrated by the current administration.<\/p>\n<p>The private legal practitioner contended that the legal petition that led to the Chief Justice\u2019s dismissal was rooted in a long and contentious legal history between a petitioner, Daniel Ofori, and Justice Torkornoo, a history that significantly predates the National Democratic Congress (NDC) returning to power.<\/p>\n<p>The controversial dismissal of the Chief Justice on September 1, 2025, sparked immediate condemnation from opposition figures who claimed it was a fulfilment of a campaign promise. <\/p>\n<p>However, Mrs Annangfio refuted this narrative by highlighting the petitioner, businessman Daniel Ofori\u2019s, extensive legal battles with Justice Torkornoo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe petitioner, Daniel Ofori, is not a new person to the removed CJ,\u201d Annangfio explained on Channel One TV on Saturday. \u201cHe is by far one of the richest businessmen we have in Ghana and a frequent litigant. He has had issues with Madam Gertrude Torkornoo even when she was a High Court judge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Mrs Annangfio, Mr. Ofori had pursued a case against Ecobank through the entire judicial hierarchy, from the High Court to the Supreme Court, and even a review. <\/p>\n<p>She revealed that in one of her rulings, Justice Torkornoo decided against the businessman. This series of events, the presidential staffer argued, established a clear motive for Ofori\u2019s petition that had nothing to do with the NDC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel Ofori later argued that given their history and certain comments made by Justice Torkornoo in other cases, she was likely to be biased against him in any future matter involving Ecobank,\u201d Mrs Annangfio added.<\/p>\n<p>The staffer emphasised that it was misleading to claim that the NDC administration orchestrated Justice Torkornoo\u2019s removal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt cannot be that the NDC came to power, and within four months, it was on our agenda to remove the Chief Justice,\u201d she stated, adding that the administration had to act on the recommendation of the Article 146 Committee that was established to investigate the petition.<\/p>\n<p>While the government maintains its constitutional duty to act on the committee\u2019s findings, the dismissal continues to be a point of fierce public and political debate. <\/p>\n<p>The opposing view, championed by legal luminaries like former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo and former Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, argues that the removal was an \u201cunholy assault\u201d on judicial independence and that the allegations against the Chief Justice lacked the gravity to warrant such a severe outcome. <\/p>\n<p>This contrasting perspective underscores the deep political and legal divisions that the event has exposed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                        \n                                                <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-2\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/sad.svg\" alt=\"Sad\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Sad                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-3\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/excited.svg\" alt=\"Excited\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Excited                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-6\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/sleepy.svg\" alt=\"Sleepy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Sleepy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                        \n                                                <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-4\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/angry.svg\" alt=\"Angry\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Angry<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                        \n                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-5\" post-id=\"93016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/surprise.svg\" alt=\"Surprise\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Beatrice-Annangfio-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"NDC refutes orchestrating CJ\u2019s removal, cites petitioner's longstanding legal history with Torkornoo\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NDC refutes orchestrating CJ\u2019s removal, cites petitioner's longstanding legal history with Torkornoo\">An Accra Circuit Court has remanded a 25-year-old National Service Person, Jesper Kobina Mensah, into police custody for his alleged role in a sophisticated digital fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of over GH\u00a2303,950 from a bank customer.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3214,3943,1969,1883,117,10,9,8078,4416],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","category-fraud","category-hp-news-3","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-steal","category-theft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}