Army not interested in overthrowing Akufo Addo’s government, they’ll rather protect the ballot – Defense Minister

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Minister for Defense Dominic has ruled out the possibility of a military coup d’etat in the Republic of Ghana following the growing trend of violent extremism and unconstitutional takeover of democratically elected governments in West Africa.

Presidential guards in Niger toppled the Mohammed Bazoum Administration last making the country the 6th to witness similar instability in the sub region.

With growing fears that relatively stable democracies such as Ghana may fall victim to the extremist activities Defense Minister Dominic Nitiwul says the Ghanaian military are professionals and may not be interested in a coup d’état.

“For the six years that have been with the members of the armed forces, I can assure you that the (professionalism) of the Ghana armed forces is power excellence and I’m not worried at all. Not at all I don’t worry about any member of the armed forces taking up arms to say I’m going to remove a government” he said.

The minister also added that “they would rather protect the will of the people.They would rather not allow anybody to cheat in an election. They would rather not allow anybody to manipulate in an election, but to take up arms to remove a government, the armed forces (would not).

West African leaders after an emergency Summit in Abuja over the weekend announced a raft of sanctions on the republic of Niger following last week’s military coup d’etat in the West African country.

Hence forth Niger has been declared a no-fly zone restricting all commercial flights moving to and fro almost all west African countries. Also ECOWAS has issued a week’s ultimatum for the reinstatement of the deposed president else it will deploy a military force to restore the constitutional order.

Touching on whether or not Ghana sides with the regional position, Dominic Nitiwul indicated that “ECOWAS has given the coup a one week ultimatum to hand over or face severe consequences including the use of force.”

“After the one week we will seek the direction of the presidents exactly what they will do but I can say that the member states are ready if it means using force, the member states will be ready to do that which will counter. As I said, we’re waiting for the direction from the commander in chiefs of the various armed forces across the globe and if the decision is to use force, the armed forces of every country will

contribute troops to use that force.

“I think that the most important thing all of us must know is that we cannot accept the use of force or arms by any individual or a group of individuals because they so have arms. Those days are gone. No nation to accept that if there is a bad government let the people vote out that bad government. It’s as simple as that” he said.