{"id":742861,"date":"2019-11-12T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T12:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/11\/12\/coup-plotters-bought-guns-firing-at-teshie-range\/"},"modified":"2019-11-12T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T12:52:36","slug":"coup-plotters-bought-guns-firing-at-teshie-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/11\/12\/coup-plotters-bought-guns-firing-at-teshie-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Coup Plotters Bought Guns Firing At Teshie Range"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Some<br \/>\nof the persons arrested in the alleged coup plot have admitted that they<br \/>\nprocured guns.<\/p>\n<p>However,<br \/>\nthey are claiming that the guns were for their personal protection.<\/p>\n<p>Details<br \/>\nare emerging about how the accused persons, who are members of a<br \/>\nnon-governmental organisation, Take Action Ghana (TAG), procured the firearms and<br \/>\nhired the services of one of their members, Kafui Donya, a blacksmith from<br \/>\nAlavanyo in the Volta Region, to have them repaired.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tacit Admission<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lawyer<br \/>\nfor seven of the accused persons, Victor Kodjoga Adawudu, in his attempts to<br \/>\nsecure bail for them ended up admitting to what the prosecution had always said<br \/>\nabout the accused persons being arrested with guns and ammunition.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nlawyer had previously maintained that his clients were innocent and that the<br \/>\nprosecution kept making allegations without putting what he described as<br \/>\n\u201cwatertight evidence\u201d before the court.<\/p>\n<p>However,<br \/>\nappearing before an Accra High Court yesterday, Mr. Adawudu did not only admit that<br \/>\nthe accused persons procured guns, but also told the court that they had gone<br \/>\nto the Teshie Military Shooting Range to test the weapons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coup Plot<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ten<br \/>\npersons are currently before a Kaneshie District Court, Accra, in connection<br \/>\nwith the alleged plot to overthrow the government and take over the running of<br \/>\nthe country.<\/p>\n<p>Among<br \/>\nthe accused person are a senior military officer, a Commissioner of Police<br \/>\n(COP), junior rank military officers, as well as some civilians. They have been<br \/>\ncharged with treason felony, conspiracy to commit treason felony, as well as<br \/>\nabetment of treason felony.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Actors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncivilians are Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, the proprietor of Citadel Hospital at<br \/>\nAlajo, Accra, believed to be the mastermind behind the coup plot; Donya Kafui,<br \/>\naka Ezor, a local weapon manufacturer (blacksmith), and Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu,<br \/>\naka BB or ADC.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nsoldiers arrested in connection with the alleged plot included a senior<br \/>\nofficer, Col. Samuel Kojo Gameli, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, Lance Corporal<br \/>\nSylvester Akapewu, Lance Corporal Seidu Abubakar and one WO II Esther Saan, aka<br \/>\nMama Gee, of the Military Academy and Training Schools (MATS) and also a<br \/>\ncivilian employee of the Ghana Armed Force, Gershon Akpa, while the senior<br \/>\npolice officer picked up and detained is ACP\/Dr. Benjamin Agordzo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TAG Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr.<br \/>\nAdawudu in his application for bail for his clients told the court that TAG is<br \/>\nan NGO registered by Dr. Mac-Palm which he uses for medical outreach<br \/>\nprogrammes. <\/p>\n<p>He<br \/>\nsaid the group\u2019s membership included military officers, police officers,<br \/>\nlawyers, drivers and \u2018all kinds of people\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>He<br \/>\ntold the court that as part of plans to raise funds for the group\u2019s activities,<br \/>\nthey also had a social media platform where issues of national interest were<br \/>\ndiscussed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Supposed Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr.<br \/>\nAdawudu claimed that members of the groups while on one of their outreaches at<br \/>\nDamango in the West Gonja District of the Savannah Region were attacked by a<br \/>\ngroup of people and had to be saved by the police.<\/p>\n<p>He<br \/>\nsaid discussions after the attack led to one Sulley whom he says is a military<br \/>\nofficer suggesting that they procure guns and register them for their<br \/>\nprotection.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nlawyer told the court that it was on the basis of this that the group invited<br \/>\nDonya Kafui, a blacksmith, \u201cto be repairing the guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According<br \/>\nto him, the said Sulley had been going to Kafui Donya in the Volta Region for<br \/>\ngun repairs for a long time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Testing Guns<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr.<br \/>\nAdawudu told the court that it was after Donya had finished repairing the guns<br \/>\nthat the said Sulley advised that they test the guns, and they went to the<br \/>\nTeshie Military Shooting Range to test the guns.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncourt heard that while at the shooting range, both Sulley and Donya fired the<br \/>\nguns which attracted military officers and they were subsequently arrested.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Destabilization Plot<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Adawudu further told the court presided over by<br \/>\nJustice George Buadi that the accused persons were not engaged in any plot to<br \/>\ndestabilize the country or overthrow the government but were only arrested<br \/>\nbecause some of them are classmates from school days and others are childhood<br \/>\nfriends.<\/p>\n<p>He insisted that there was no evidence before the<br \/>\ncourt to show that the accused person were involved in any plot to overthrow<br \/>\nthe government aside from the mere allegations by the prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>He assured the court that his clients were not \u2018flight<br \/>\nrisk\u2019 and would appear for the trial when granted bail.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The prosecution led by Hilda Craig, a Senior State Attorney,<br \/>\nopposed the application saying it was premature to ask for bail. <\/p>\n<p>According to her, the charges against the accused<br \/>\npersons were serious ones which could lead to life imprisonment or even death<br \/>\npenalty when found guilty hence they would not appear for the trial when<br \/>\ngranted bail.<\/p>\n<p>She added that some of the accused persons were military<br \/>\nofficers who could interfere with witnesses and investigations since some of<br \/>\nthe witnesses are military personnel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Court Ruling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Justice Buadi in his ruling held that the accused<br \/>\npersons had been detained for less than two months and that could not constitute<br \/>\nunreasonable delays in the trial.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Speedy<br \/>\nInvestigations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Kaneshie Court, presided over by Magistrate Eleanor Kakra Barnes-Botchway, has advised the prosecution to speed up their investigations into the matter to enable committal proceedings to commence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BY Gibril Abdul Razak<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the persons arrested in the alleged coup plot have admitted that they procured guns. However, they are claiming that the guns were for their personal protection. Details are emerging about how the accused persons, who are members of a non-governmental organisation, Take Action Ghana (TAG), procured the firearms and hired the services of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":742223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Coup Plotters Bought Guns Firing At Teshie Range - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/11\/12\/coup-plotters-bought-guns-firing-at-teshie-range\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Coup Plotters Bought Guns Firing At Teshie Range - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Some of the persons arrested in the alleged coup plot have admitted that they procured guns. 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