A major rift has opened in Ghana’s security establishment after former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul issued a rebuttal to claims that the country served as a collaborator in a Christmas Day military strike against ISIS targets in Nigeria.
Speaking on Wednesday, 11th March 2026, Mr. Nitiwul warned that recent disclosures by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa regarding the trilateral operation in Sokoto State have placed Ghanaian citizens at “serious risk” of retaliatory terrorism. He further suggested that if such an operation took place from Ghanaian soil, it may have occurred without the necessary legal framework or parliamentary oversight.
Mr. Nitiwul, who said he signed the country’s Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the United States in 2018, insisted that neither that document nor its predecessors from 1998, 2002, or 2015 permit Ghana to be used as a base for offensive military strikes.
“In all these agreements, at no point was the United States or any other country allowed to use the territory of Ghana as a launchpad to attack any individual, any nation, any group of persons or any organization,” Mr. Nitiwul asserted.
The former Minister clarified that under existing laws, the U.S. requires explicit permission to bring armed military aircraft into Ghanaian airspace.
Again, any launch of an attack from Ghana would require the “express permission” of the President of the Republic, and no current agreement exists that authorises the type of lethal intervention described by the Foreign Ministry, Mr Nitiwul disclosed.
The former Defence Minister expressed grave concern over the potential blowback from Mr Ablakwa’s public confirmation of Ghana’s involvement in the Sokoto mission. He argued that admitting to such a role invites the very “Venezuela situation” or “geopolitical matter” the Foreign Minister claimed to be avoiding.
“What he has disclosed to the world poses a serious risk to you, the citizens of Ghana and to Ghana as a whole… no government should be allowed to ask a foreign country without a formal agreement to use our territory to bomb, attack or kill anybody without our permission,” he added.
Mr. Nitiwul posed a pointed question to the current administration, asking if a “secret agreement” had been signed between 7th January 2025 and the present day that the public is unaware of.
While acknowledging the shared global goal of “quenching” terrorism, Nitiwul maintained that partnerships must be governed by the rule of law. He is now calling for an immediate summons for the Foreign Affairs Minister to brief the Committee on Defence and Interior.
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