The President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit filed before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja over alleged unlawful suspension from office and character assassination.

The applicant, Liberia’s Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, Ms Emma Glassco, stated in the suit that she was arbitrarily suspended from office in February by President Boakai over allegations of “financial inefficiency.”

Named as the sole respondent in the suit is the Republic of Liberia.

In the suit marked ECW/CCJ/APP/19/25, filed and dated Monday, 14 March, by her team of lawyers, led by a former Chief Justice of Liberia, Kabineh Ja’nneh, and Mr Sayma Cephus, the applicant argues that her suspension did not follow due process.

Glassco further states that she was neither investigated nor found culpable by any anti-corruption agency in the country but alleges that however, her character was assassinated through the suspension, which she insists was carried out without following due legal procedures.

She told the court that her abrupt removal from office damaged her reputation in the public eye, portraying her as someone lacking integrity.

“The applicant states that the respondent has subjected her to public humiliation, harassment, and intimidation far beyond any treasonable offence by instructing almost all state institutions to conduct criminal investigations simply to incriminate her and justify the illegal suspension,” the suit read.

In her suit, among other demands, Glassco is asking the ECOWAS court to award her $10 million in compensation for multiple injuries suffered, including state-organised harassment, emotional and psychological trauma, public humiliation, and false stigmatisation, which she claims she continues to endure.

She is also seeking “an order mandating the respondent to pay special damages to the applicant amounting to not less than $175,000 for the unexpired term of her four-year contract to address the unnecessary financial hardships imposed on her and her family.”

Additionally, she is requesting “a declaration that the respondent’s actions in removing the applicant were wrong and constituted a gross violation of the tenure law of the Republic of Liberia. As a result, the applicant has suffered immeasurable injuries to her professional standing and psychological well-being, and she should be compensated with no less than $5 million.”

Glassco is also demanding a public apology from the respondent to be published in all newspapers, aired on radio and TV stations, and displayed on Liberia’s official website. She claims this is necessary to rectify the damage caused by falsely portraying her as corrupt and subjecting her to baseless investigations, making her an outcast and a public enemy in her own country without evidence.

She further requests the court to impose $250,000 on the respondent as litigation costs.

The applicant also stated that she has twelve months remaining in her unexpired tenure, which has been prematurely terminated, with her salary and allowances suspended.

No date has been set for the hearing of the case. (The PUNCH)