Ghana’s crack Bureau for National Investigation (BNI) has invited a former Executive Secretary at the office of the IGP, Superintendent Peter Toobu Lanchene, for questioning over his alleged role in a plot to stage a coup.
Already, the state security apparatus is holding a top cop ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzor for the same crime while another respected officer Kofi Boakye is also being interrogated.
Supt. Lanchene, who is the NDC parliamentary candidate for Wa West Constituency in the Upper West region, worked with the immediate past IGP, David Asante-Apeatu – the first to be appointed under the Akufo-Addo administration.
According to Accra-based Starr FM, sources within the security setup have revealed that Lanchene allegedly knew about the activities of the alleged coup plotters but refused to tell his boss.
Already nine persons including a military officer Colonel Samuel Kojo Gameli and a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces Gershun Akpa, are standing trial in the capital, Accra over what the government describes as an “elaborate plot targeted at the Presidency.”
The leader of the suspects – Take Action Ghana – Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm has been charged for treason felony after ammunition and other explosives were seized from his hospital premises last September.
Security experts have expressed mixed reactions over the arrest. A retired army officer and a security analyst Colonel (rtd) Festus Aboagye believes the police officers being questioned are innocent.
“For now, it has not been established that Dr. Agordzor is part of the inner circles of the group. I know him and I can’t vouch for him but I’m not sure Dr. Agordzor will be part of the core clique. Dr. Agordzor is not a coup maker, he is not somebody who will be involved in overthrowing government. The mere allegation that anybody is charged with treason is a very serious prospect,” Col. (Rtd) Aboagye told a local network.
“I don’t think Dr. Agordzor will plan coup in this country even though I cannot vouch for them. Let’s be patient and allow the state to exhaust the options,” he added.
In a September statement, Ghana’s minister of information said it had foiled “an elaborate plot targeted at the presidency, and with the ultimate aim of destabilising the country”, after 15 months of monitoring the main suspects and others associated with them.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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