'Coup plot' conclusions pre-mature - Colonel Aboagye

Security Analyst Colonel (Rtd) Festus Aboagye has questioned government's claims that the alleged guns and bombs manufacturing syndicate arrested at Alajo in Accra last Friday were targeting the Presidency to destabilise the country.

A combined security operation comprising personnel drawn from the Police CID, Ghana Armed Forces, Defence Intelligence, and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on Friday, September 20, this year, arrested three persons suspected to be manufacturing guns and bombs at Alajo, a suburb of Accra with elaborate plans to target the Presidency, and with an overall goal of destabilising the country.

Following the arrest of the suspects — Dr Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, Ezor Kafui, and Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, alias BB or ADC, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a statement on Monday, September 23, 2019, said the suspects formed a group called “Take Action Ghana” (TAG), under the guise of mobilising the youth for nation-building, education, health and providing shelter for the needy, but actually meant to stage a coup. 

Contributing to the subject on an Accra-based Starr Fm on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, Mr Aboagye said the action of the security agencies was pre-mature, explaining that there was not enough evidence to conclude that the syndicates were plotting a coup d'état. 

He said it was too early for the government to draw the conclusions it has made, saying “On the surface of the information contained in the press release, it's a bit too early to draw any substantive conclusion. I cannot support the idea that this group intended to subvert or to target the presidency.

"If this case goes to court, the state must prove beyond reasonable doubt that these individuals had a plan involving the three of them, two from the United States and some persons from the Ghana Armed Forces who have different roles to play, including mobilisation of funding, mobilisation of sensitisation, awareness, radicalisation, targeting or specific target on individuals.

"I would beg to differ that the number of weapons that have been listed are not sufficient to destabilise the State.

"If you know the infrastructure of the president, there are layers of security that one needs to go through, if the idea is to surgically eliminate the President that is a different issue, but the Presidency itself is an infrastructure that is formed with security - electronic, physical among others.

"There are missing holes in the information that the minister has provided, we need to hear all the information pieces to be able to connect the dots.”