Ibrahim Mahama Drags Bright Simons to Court, Demands GHS 10M

Ghanaian businessman Ibrahim Mahama has filed a defamation lawsuit against Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, following a published article that Ibrahim describes as “false and malicious.”

The lawsuit, filed at the Accra High Court on May 28, 2025 targets statements Simons made about the well-known Ghanaian businessman, Ibrahim and his company, Engineers and Planners (E&P), alleging serious damage to their reputations.

The dispute centers on an article titled “Ghana Provides a Lesson in How Not to Nationalise a Gold Mine,” published on Simons’ personal website on April 19, 2025. Simons also shared the article on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, where it quickly went viral, gathering over 93,000 views and hundreds of reactions within weeks.

“The Defendant is a Ghanaian who is the vice president for Imani Ghana. The Plaintiffs state that on or about the 19th day of April 2025, the Defendant authored and published on his personal website, “brightsimons.com”, an article titled “Ghana Provides a Lesson in How Not to Nationalise a Gold Mine”.

 The Plaintiffs repeat the averments contained in the immediately preceding paragraph and states that in the said publication, the Defendant made several false, malicious, and defamatory statements concerning the Plaintiffs.

 The Plaintiffs state that on the same day, the Defendant shared a link to the said article via his official handle on X (formerly Twitter), identified as @BBSimons.

The Plaintiffs repeat the averments contained in the immediately preceding paragraph and states that as at the 8^th day of May 2025, the said post had generated no less than 93,000 views, 250 reactions, 98 reposts, 26 comments, and 109 bookmarks, thereby causing widespread dissemination of the defamatory statements.

 The Plaintiffs state that the said article contained, among others, the following defamatory words: ⁠in the eyes of existing and potential partners and diminishing the creditworthiness of the 2nd Plaintiff.” the writ reads.

In the article, Simons reportedly accused E&P of financial problems caused by halted operations at the Damang gold mine. He suggested that creditors were unhappy and hinted that Mahama, the brother of President John Mahama, was benefiting improperly from political ties. The article further implied that E&P was receiving unfair government favor in mining policies.

Mahama and his company strongly reject these claims. According to court documents, the plaintiffs call the allegations “entirely false and wholly without factual basis.” They say the article paints E&P as financially unstable and harms the company’s image with partners and financiers.

The lawsuit states that E&P has operated lawfully and successfully since the 1990s across West Africa, completing major mining and infrastructure projects. It also highlights that E&P is the primary contractor for Abosso Goldfields Limited’s Damang Gold Mine, with a strong record of exceeding targets and maintaining safety. The company enjoys solid support from international financiers such as the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development. The defamatory article, the lawsuit says, has caused anxiety among E&P’s business partners and damaged its creditworthiness. Efforts to get Simons to retract the statements and apologize have failed.

“The Plaintiffs state that on 22nd April 2025, through their solicitors, they demanded an immediate retraction of the said publication and an unqualified apology from the Defendant, but the Defendant has failed, refused, or neglected to comply with the demand,” the writ stated.

Mahama and E&P are demanding a court declaration that the statements are defamatory, a public retraction and apology on the same digital platforms, and a full-page apology in the Daily Graphic newspaper for six consecutive editions over three months. They also seek a permanent court order stopping Simons from making further defamatory comments, general damages of GHS 10 million, and payment of legal costs.

The writ filed states that the statements were authored with malice and with the sole intent of reducing the plaintiffs in the estimation of all right-thinking members of society. It adds that the claims have caused Mahama and E&P significant reputational harm and public shame.

Bright Simons, a well-known public intellectual and critic, has not yet responded publicly to the lawsuit.