The High Court in Accra has adjourned to September 24 the bail application involving Salomey Bafoh Awiti, the senior nursing officer accused of abetting the publication of false information by social media personality Ghana Jollof.
The adjournment followed a request by the prosecution for additional time to respond to the defence’s bail application.
Assistant State Attorney Carl Afedzi Forson told the court that he was not the substantive attorney handling the matter and had been informed that the Attorney-General’s Office was served with the bail application on Friday.
He explained that Monday was a public holiday and, consequently, the application had not yet been assigned to a lawyer within the office.
The prosecution therefore prayed the court for a short adjournment.
Opposing the request, counsel for Awiti, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, argued that the application concerned the liberty of the accused and should not be treated like a civil proceeding requiring three clear days for service.
He said there was evidence that the prosecution had been served and noted that the State had not indicated that it had been short-served.
Counsel further argued that applications concerning an accused person’s liberty could be heard even over weekends and that the relevant period continued to run.
He warned that further delay could render the bail application practically moot, as Awiti would have spent two weeks in custody by the time the prosecution filed and served its response.
The court, in its ruling, noted that the liberty of the applicant was at stake and stressed that the State could not take the matter for granted.
The court subsequently adjourned the case to September 24 and directed the Republic to file any processes it intended to rely on and serve them by 9:00 a.m.
Reported post-court encounter
Following the proceedings, a woman reportedly approached lawyer Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah and identified herself as an officer of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), allegedly seeking to arrest him.
The circumstances surrounding the reported encounter remain unclear, including whether the woman was indeed an EOCO officer and the basis for the alleged arrest.
Videos circulating on social media appear to show a physical confrontation involving the woman and some men at the scene. In the footage, Lawyer Baffour Awuah is seen getting into his vehicle and driving away from the scene.
The allegations surrounding the incident have not been independently verified, and EOCO had not publicly commented on the reported encounter at the time of publication.
