Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dr. Benjamin Agordzo, who was recently acquitted in the high-profile coup plot case has revealed that discussions on a WhatsApp platform led to the charges against him and other convicted alleged coup plotters.
In an interview on GhanaWeb TV’s ‘The Lowdown’, ACP Agordzo explained that while he wasn’t part of the ‘Executive Platform,’ he accessed the messages through court disclosures.
He maintained that, in his opinion, the messages did not suggest a coup plot unless there was additional information the court used to convict the alleged plotters.
Mr Agordzo highlighted a member on the platform who suggested the coup and was removed by Dr. Mac-Palm, the accused leader who passed away in 2023.
Surprisingly, the person suggesting the coup has not been arrested and is reportedly in the United States.
“They (the security agencies) alleged that a particular WhatsApp platform, called the ‘Executive Platform’, was where this whole issue was discussed. With the benefit of disclosures, I also had copies of whatever that platform contained. And I can tell you on authority without prejudice to whatever the court has decided… you observed that there was a certain man, who had tried to say something in connection with what they have alleged with the planning.
“And I, the BNI people and everybody who read saw that Dr Mac-Palm was opposed to that person and as a result, he took him (the man) out of that platform. They had a whole quarrel, misunderstanding between them because of what the man said which was also printed and is with the BNI,” he told the host of ‘The Lowdown’ programme, Daniel Oduro.
The retired police officer added, “… the person who suggested that (the coup) up to now we don’t know the person. They could not arrest the person. One lawyer asked about that in court and they said they are making efforts to that effect to get him. The person who made those suggestions has not been arrested. Who is that person? Was he planted on the platform?… where is he? They say he is in the United States,” he explained.
He questioned the validity of the security apparatus’s claims, arguing that if the WhatsApp messages were truly indicative of a coup plot, efforts should have been made to bring back the person who suggested it from the United States in collaboration with US security authorities.