Victor Smith makes u-turn on Democrats‘ stories’

Chronicle -- THE SPECIAL Assistant to the former President Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith yesterday confirmed that he contributed to 'The National Democrat' reckless stories on the Ya- Na's death and the serial killings of Ghanaian women.

'I have not regretted in assisting The Democrat to expose the killers of Ya-Na and the serial killers,” he told Kwame Sefa Kayi of Peace FM radio during the Newspaper review segment yesterday.

Victor Smith had earlier in the week tried to disassociate himself from the confession by Mr. Ebenezer Josiah, the Editor of The National Democrat, a pro- NDC newspaper that he Victor Smith was one of the architects of the defamatory stories that prominently appear on the front page of the paper. Most of the stories carried by the paper was against President Kufuor, a number of ministers and a host of others linking them to the serial killings of 34 Ghanaian women and the murder of Ya-Na, the king of Dagbon in Yendi in the Northern Region.

Like Saul of Tarsus in the Bible, Josiah at the weekend issued a statement to the press confessing about how unsubstantiated and defamatory stories against eminent citizenry were smuggled into the paper with Victor Smith as one of the architects through Mr. Michael Dokosi who uses Kofi Twumasi as a pen name and the deputy Editor who is also said to be the publisher of the paper as well.

Victor Smith who was interviewed simultaneous with Josiah, initially tried to discredit the confessed Democrat Editor's assertion but on the course of the interview yielded when he admitted that he contribute to the Democrat on the paper's article.

The Former President's Aide before confirming that he played a role in the paper's jaundiced stories, attacked Mr. Kwaku Baako Jnr. and a group of Journalist who are commonly known as the 'Coffee Shop Mafias as those behind the confession statement but the resigned Democrat Editor insisted that he did what he believed was honorable before man and God as a right thinking person with conscience.

According to Josiah, even before his confession statement that was issued on Sunday, he together with Michael Dorkosi aka Kofi Twumasi was at the offices of Victor Smith where they even picked a disfigured picture of President Kufuor from his end which the paper carried on its front page on Monday.

According to now “born again” Democrat Editor, the screw that break the camel's back was that he was made to believed that there were evidence to support all the frivolous stories the paper had published against the President and other top government officials but those who were behind the stories kept on shafting the goal posts when they were asked to provide evidence to the effect.

He said the paper had been hit with multiple law suits but when those who furnished them with the stories were asked to furnished them with evidence nothing was coming and as a result he did not think he could continue to malign people for nothing.

“In the face of these the agenda of the paper was that since we are in the election year we should go all out but since I could no longer continue to write or edit a paper which aim is to concoct stories without a proof against people I therefore decide to call it a quite,” Josiah told listeners yesterday.

According to Victor Smith all that he did was to help The National Democrat paper exposed some criminals within the NPP government and he does not regret it.

“The People of Ghana are listing to the nonsense that is going on in the country, the Police are covering the NPP guys, they consulted me and I have no regret working on the stories,” he added.

Victor Smith's admission has put paid to a desperate attempt by a section of people to discredit Ebenezer Josiah's confession.