Alleged coup plotter denies joining group to topple govt

Lance Airforce Corporal (LAC) Ali Solomon, one of the nine persons accused of attempt­ing to overthrow the government, has denied attending the meeting that discussed the alleged plot.

LAC Solomon was responding to Ms Winifred Sarpong, a State Attorney’s statement that Corporal Nii Ankrah, the prosecution’s 12th witness, had told the High Court that LAC Solomon invited him (Cpl Ankrah) specifically to the meeting on June 22, 2018, at the Next Door Beach Resort, Accra.

“Nii came to my residence and did not meet me, so I asked him to meet me at the Next Door Beach Resort as he was using a motor­bike and could easily move to where I was,” LAC Solomon told the High Court presided over by Justices Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, Stephen Oppong, and Hafisata Amaliboba.

LAC Solomon said that he never attended any meetings because he did not belong to any group.

The prosecution insisted that LAC Solomon was running from the fact that he attended that meeting where Bright Alan Debrah Yeboah, another accused, gave a speech as to why the group should overthrow the government.

Ms Sarpong said aside from Corporal Nii Ankrah identifying LAC Sol­omon, Staff Sergeant Sule Awarf, the prosecution’s star witness, and Sergeant Nantona also identified him (LAC Solomon) as someone who was at the meeting.

The prosecution said that was why the name of LAC Solo­mon was captured on the list of attendants, one of the prosecution’s exhibits.

“You were also captured in a video of that meeting,” the pros­ecution said, but LAC Solomon insisted he never attended that meeting because he did not belong to any group.

LAC Solomon also denied attending any meeting with LAC Seidu Abubakar, Corporal Sylves­ter Akanpewon, and Nii Ankrah.

LAC Solomon said that though he was at the Next-Door Beach Resort, he did not share the same

Summer Hut with the group, so the recording device might have captured him far away without his knowledge.

He said if not for the court ses­sions, he would not have met the other suspects apart from Abuba­kar and Akanpewon.

Ms. Sarpong said it was after the meeting that Nii Ankrah reported the incident to the National securi­ty and that LAC Solomon did not report it to his superiors because he shared in the agenda of the meeting.

Kafui, Debrah, Zikpi, Colonel Gameli, WOII Esther, LAC Sol­omon, LAC Abubakar, Corporal Akanpewon, and ACP Agordzo are facing trial for an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

They have all denied their respective charges, including conspiracy, abetment of crime, possession of weapons, and high treason.