‘I love Ghana; I’ll be the last person to derail it’ – ACP Agordzo

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Dr Benjamin Agordzo, who was released on bail Thursday, has said he has no plans whatsoever to topple Ghana’s government as has been alleged against him. The top police officer being tried for his alleged involvement in a coup plot said, with his six years’ experience in peacekeeping in war ravaged countries, he will be the last person to do anything to disturb the peace of Ghana. “Having spent about 6 years of my life in peace keeping missions in Sudan, Somalia and Haiti and witnessed how conflicts have ravaged those countries, I will be the last person to do anything to derail the strides we’ve made in democratic development,” ACP Agordzo said. Insisting his innocence in a Facebook post Friday morning, he said his love for the country will not allow him to destabilise it, saying “I love my country so dearly I can never ever do anything to disturb the relative peace we enjoy in Ghana”. “This is what I stand for and I’ll never exchange this for anything else,” he indicated. ACP Agordzo was arrested on November 5 last year upon his return from a UN peacekeeping, and put him before a lower court the next day which remanded him for further investigations. Several efforts to get bail failed as the court held it was premature until January 21 when he was granted a self-recognisance bail to the tune of 500,000 cedis. His passport was seized, and ordered to among other conditions, report to the Inspector General of Police or his representative twice every week for 3 months and once a week afterwards. Despite the bail, he was kept in custody by police authorities until Thursday, January 23 when they resolved to allow him conclude the execution of his bail.= In his first social media post, he described his almost three months incarceration as “a whole world of experience”. “I was particularly strengthened by the fact that even thousands who had never set eyes on me believed that I couldn’t have done what I was being accused of,” he stated in the post. The outspoken officer said he believes in democratic values such as rule of law, human rights and constitutional rule, stating that those principles “drive the passion” in me him. At his first court appearance on November 6, 2019, ACP Agordzo suggested he was targeted for being critical of the system. He told journalists outside the courtroom in Accra that he would not allow the “frivolous” charges (abetment to commit treason felony) which he said were trumped up by the state, to weigh him down in his criticisms. “These charges are frivolous. I’m strong as anything. I’m not going to be bogged down, nobody can gag me. I have not committed any crime; I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said. He expressed surprise that he is being ‘targeted’ for expressing his opinion on a social media platform when the President, Nana Akufo-Addo in his inaugural address on January 7, 2017 asked Ghanaians to be citizens and not spectators “I mean the president called upon us to be citizens so when I express my opinion on a WhatsApp platform unrelated to any alleged coup, nobody should bog me down and I will stand for this,” he said. What is the case? ACP Agordzo is alleged to have funded the activities of the coup plotters with 2,000 Ghana cedis. His lawyer, Martin Kpebu, though admitted that his client indeed parted with the amount, he explained the amount was for a “philanthropic activity at Agbobloshie” in Accra. At least 7 persons including a medical doctor and serving military personnel are facing trial for plotting to overthrow the Akufo-Addo-led government. Government announced a joint security services operation on September 20, 2019 led to the retrieval of several arms, explosive devices and ammunition from locations within Accra and Kpone-Bawaleshie in Dodowa. Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said at the time that three persons including a medical doctor were arrested in the operation, noting they were a part of group of persons who were planning to target the presidency and destabilise the country. “The arrest and seizure come after 15 months of surveillance and gathering of evidence on the activities of the prime suspects and others,” he said in a statement. Five persons, Dr Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, said to be the leader of the group, and Ezor Kafui, a local weapon manufacturer, Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, Colonel Samuel kojo Gameli and a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces, Gershon Akpa, have since been put before court. By Stephen Kwabena Effah|editors.3news.com|Ghana