Oliver Barker-Vormawor and Dr. Cadman Atta Mills have advised businessman and President’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama, to withdraw his defamation lawsuit against policy analyst Bright Simons, warning that even a courtroom victory could result in a greater public loss.
Their appeal came via posts on X (formerly Twitter), where both men expressed concern over the optics and implications of the legal action.
Ibrahim Mahama, founder of Engineers and Planners and brother to President John Dramani Mahama, filed the lawsuit following remarks made by Bright Simons that he considered defamatory. However, critics now say the move risks negative publicity and political backlash.
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Civil society activist and lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, questioned the wisdom of the suit, stating that it sends the wrong signal to the public, regardless of its legal merits.
Barker-Vormawor posted: “It is not just the legal I am talking about. It is also the optics and the politics. A well-rounded legal advisor’s role is to help check your impulses; not enable them
“If he listens to advice from broke nobodies, then I think his lawsuit against Bright Simons was a bad idea,” he added, urging Mahama to withdraw the case in the interest of his public image and legacy.
“Shalom!” he concluded.
Dr. Cadman Atta Mills, economist and brother of late President John Evans Atta Mills, echoed the sentiment in response to the post, drawing from personal experience as a presidential sibling.
He wrote: “Being a brother to the president means you never win… you always fight with BOTH hands tied behind your back. And even if, through some miracle, you win, no one will believe that you won fair and square.”
Dr. Mills recalled his close working relationship with Ibrahim Mahama during the 2008 election campaign, describing him as one of “Cadman’s boys” who helped deliver the Mills-Mahama ticket victory.
“I hope he remembers. And I hope he will listen to his much older brother and former comrade-in-arms,” he said.
He warned that engaging in public legal disputes would only draw further attacks.
“The very fact that you get involved in a fight opens a Pandora’s box for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to take shots at you… And as the saying goes, if enough people spit at you, you end up getting wet. Very wet.”
Calling on Ibrahim Mahama to reassess the path he has chosen, Dr. Mills concluded with a lesson from his own political experience:
“Walking away from fights I could not win did not mean I was a weakling… I learned to pick the fights that I knew I could win fair and square,” he added.