Hughes accuses woman of extortion after refusing to pay her for policy ideas

In an unexpected turn of events, Nigel Hughes has accused a woman of extortion after using her policy ideas to campaign for the Alliance for Change (AFC) and refusing to compensate her for her intellectual property.

In several Facebook posts which have since gone viral, Nakisha Sinclair detailed a series of events which she said are clear evidence that the AFC and Hughes – the party’s presidential candidate – used policy ideas and plans she developed to support the AFC’s election campaign.

When Sinclair realised that she had neither been credited or compensated for her work, she issued a cease-and-desist letter for both Hughes and the AFC to stop using her work. She said that this request was ignored.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Hughes shared a letter that he sent to the woman, denying that the AFC entered into any agreement with the woman’s company, Trifusion Consultancy.

As the Attorney representing the AFC, Hughes said that their searches of the Commercial Registry have disclosed no filings or registrations of any intellectual property as submitted by Sinclair.

Screenshots of conversations with Hughes and other correspondence shared by Sinclair on her social media page reportedly document several exchanges between her and key AFC officials, including the initial submission, follow-ups, and Hughes’ reaction to her compensation request.

Policy ideas were submitted in the areas of education, youth, the environment, and sport – some of which were eventually used by Hughes and the AFC at their press conferences.

In his response, Hughes did not deny receiving those policy ideas from Sinclair or incorporating them into the AFC’s campaign.

Instead, Hughes sought to accuse the woman of extortion after she demanded compensation for the use of her intellectual property.

“We have noted that your demand for payment of US$7000.00 (seven thousand United states dollars) has suddenly appeared in the middle of an election campaign which our client considers an attempt to extort money from them on some spurious and unfounded basis that you possess any ownership of matters which have been in the public domain for decades,” he said in his letter to Sinclair.

He added that the AFC rejects the claims made by the woman and will defend any legal proceedings brought against them.

This controversy comes as the AFC is attempting to rebrand and relaunch itself under Hughes’ leadership ahead of the September 1 general and regional elections.