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An Accra Fast Track High Court Judge sitting on the Ken Ofor-Atta vs Sam George Nartey defamation case yesterday had cause to show concern over the perception that he will be bias against the defendant because he bears the same surname as the plaintiff. While the judge�s surname is Ofori-Atta, the surname of the plaintiff is also Ofori-Atta. As a result of this, tongues had started wagging about the judge�s ability to stay neutral in the case as the ethics of his profession demands. So, yesterday before sitting started, he told an open court that though he bears the same surname as the plaintiff, he has no relationship with him. He said he was neither a relative nor friend of the accused and that he was going to handle the case based without fear or favour. It was a good move by the judge even though it raised eye-brows because the defendant, Same George, had not raised any objection against the said judge, Justice Ofori-Atta. On the case itself, Counsel for the plaintiff, Ace Ankomah, was a spectacle to behold a she huffed and puffed to the annoyance of many in court. While Counsel for Same George, Dr. Bamba Basit, by and large allowed him to make his subjections, he continuously heckled Dr. Basit when it was the latter�s turn to make his submission. Dr. Basit, in his usual calm demeanor, used five minutes to dismantle the 22 minutes monologue by Ace. Dr. Abdul Bassit Bamab, in a motion, asked the Justice Ofori Atta to strike out the writ because the condition precedence under article 57 has not been complied with. In an interview later with Godwin Tamaklow, one of the Same George�s counsels, he explained that the condition precedence is that the supposed libelous or slanderous words ought to be endorsed on the writ but he plaintiff and his counsel said they rather put it in the statement of claim. �Our contention is that once that condition precedence has not been fulfilled it makes the whole writ defective so the court should set it aside� he said. However counsel for the plaintiff, Ace Ankomah vehemently opposed it stressing that it made no difference. Sam George, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is alleged by Ken Ofori-Atta to have defamed him during Radio Gold�s �Alhaji and Alhaji� programme on October 18, 2014. According to Mr. Ofori-Atta, Sam George claimed he evaded taxes during his tenure at Databank Limited and was also involved in fraudulent transactions (OBOTAN) during the New Patriotic Party era and, therefore, had no moral right to talk about corruption. Mr. Ofori Atta consequently sued both the radio station and Sam George, demanding GH�100 million from the latter and Radio Gold since according to him, his reputation has been damaged by the comments. The case has been adjourned to January 27, 2015.