It is turning out that the kidnapping of the President and the overthrow of his government was the game plan of the Alajo coup doctor and his accomplices.

The capture of the President was to be preceded by an explosion of needles from shrapnel-loaded Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at a venue where the Commander-in-Chief, Vice President, Chief of the Defence Staff as well as top security officials would be congregated.

The IEDs under review, unlike others used in theatres of war such as Afghanistan, has an additional component of needles apart from pieces of metals known as shrapnel intended to immobilize its targets to enable the plotters to achieve their ultimate goal of overthrowing the government.

Korle Bu Link

Some components such as surgical needles and others were acquired from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra— a fact which has necessitated the investigators stretching their necks beyond the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to the health facility.

Audio, Video Evidence

Throwing more light on the subject last weekend, the Editor-in-Chief of the Crusading Guide—who has had the privilege to watch the video and audio of the meetings about the subject —presented a graphic narration of what would have been a bloody operation by the coup plotters.

It would be recalled that a DAILY GUIDE report on the Alajo Bomb Doctor in an earlier edition presented a top security official’s narration about the video evidence, which, as he put it, brought out details of the plan for the destabilization plot including methods of recruitment.

Coup Plot

“I have been able to watch video recordings. I have been able to listen to audio recordings of the 15 months surveillance and I am convinced beyond doubt,” he said.

Kidnap President

Continuing, he said, “There is a scenario of contemplating kidnapping the President. There is a scenario of when the President, Vice-President and the Chief of the Defence Staff are congregated at a place, then they would explode that thing and projectiles like needles would come out. There is also a chemical which would make you go off… These things would come out in court.”

“This is not a fix,” Kweku Baako said as a way of sticking his neck for the authenticity.

Infiltration

The veteran journalist also spoke about how the ranks of the conspirators had been infiltrated, saying “I give credit to the security agents especially the Defence Intelligence.”

Mr. Baako’s narration comes on the heels of some opposition elements supported by so-called security analysts, whom the government has described as quacks seeking to downplay what by all standards is a major issue.

Mahama’s Ridicule

In spite of the seriousness of the plot, former President John Mahama has joined the other pro-NDC elements to ridicule the foiled plot.

He has described it as a ‘bentua coup’. ‘Bentua’ in the Akan language is a ‘syringe for enema’.

Turning to one of the weapons seized from the plotters, he said it could be used to stir banku – a local maize meal – adding that ‘there were all kinds of kitchen knives. One of the items he said he saw in the collection looked like, as he put it ‘bentua’. He asked ‘how can bentua too be a weapon?’

The former President has, by jumping into the fray of those ridiculing the subject, provided grounds for those pointing at some hidden political hands in the plot. Such persons they claimed would expectedly ridicule the subject regardless of the presentation of the convincing video and audio adduced by the security agents.

Gov’t Intervention

Government had earlier warned so-called security analysts to cease ridiculing the coup claim, explaining that it is a culmination of a sustained surveillance including video and the suspects had planned to attack the Presidency.

The Military High Command in line with standard practice when soldiers breach civil law such as treasonable offences has handed over personnel implicated in the Alajo doctor coup plot case.

Key Suspects

So far, a Senior Military Officer, Col. Samuel Kojo Gameli, and a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces, Gershon Akpa, are alleged to be neck-deep in the activities of the group of individuals arrested for allegedly stockpiling weapons and IEDs at the Citadel Hospital at Alajo in Accra.

The two, according to the BNI, are members of Take Action Ghana (TAG)—a Non-Government Civil Society Organisation operated by Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the plans to destabilize the country.

Their arrests bring to five the number of persons who have been remanded in the custody of the BNI since the government raided the Citadel Hospital at Alajo on September 20 over the alleged coup plot.

Three other suspects—including the proprietor of the medical facility, Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, and two others, Ezor Kafui, a local weapon manufacturer (blacksmith), as well as Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, aka BB or ADC—were last Tuesday remanded by an Accra Magistrate Court.