By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
June 14, 2018
Tony Lithur, the lawyer who defended then President
John Dramani Mahama in the landmark 2012 Presidential Election Petition at the
Supreme Court, has triggered a process that will enable him to divorce his wife,
Nana Oye Lithur, a former minister of state.
Papers reportedly filed at the Divorce and
Matrimonial Division of the High Court in Accra on May 2, 2018, which have
found their way into both social and mainstream media, revealed what can be
described as explosive contents as grounds for the divorce.
Serious Allegations
Serious allegations like infidelity, aggressive or
violent behavior, abuse, pilfering, and non financial commitment to the
household, among others, are flying in Mr. Lithur’s suit although the
respondent Nana Oye Lithur, a popular human rights activist and lawyer, is yet
to file her response.
Unconfirmed reports say a colleague lawyer who was
also part of the NDC team that defended the party during the Presidential
Election Petition heard in 2013 has allegedly been mentioned in the particulars
as having an affair with a party in the case.
The entitlement a party is expected to receive at
the end of the case is believed to run into millions of Cedis.
Mr. Lithur, who was the Board Chairman of Ghana
Airports Company Limited (GACL) during the previous Mahama administration,
confirmed yesterday that the suit is pending before the court, but in an
emotional press release, he requested privacy for the family.
Difficult Times
“My attention has been drawn to the publication on
social media of the docket copy of a petition divorce I have filed against Nana
Oye Lithur at the Divorce and Matrimonial Division of the High Court, Accra and
some pictures of us. While acknowledging the existence of the filed petition, I
would like to say that the process is an emotional and difficult one for us and
our children,” he said, adding “I would, therefore, very respectfully and
humbly, ask the general public to kindly give us, our children and loved ones,
some privacy to deal quietly with this painful stage of our lives.”
Main Action
The petitioner’s suit was filed through his lawyer, O.
K. Osafo Buaben of Oseawuo Chambers & Co.
The Lithurs, considered a power couple in the
country, have been married for 27 years, first under customary law on April 14,
1991 and subsequently under ordinance at Christ the King Church, January 16,
1997.
The petitioner stated that he took the final
decision to commence divorce proceedings in 2017, soon after his wife had
informed him that she was buying a mansion in South Africa for between $350,000
and $600,000, amidst other juicy bombshell revelations about their relationship
which has obviously gone sour.
The leakage of the court documents has sparked heated
debate, as some have argued that matrimonial cases are supposed to be heard in
private and not necessarily for public consumption.
However, others are of the cynical view that the
parties involved are public figures and a case involving them should be of
public interest.
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