Former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul has expressed disappointment and disbelief over the conduct of the Director-General of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), following a dramatic attempt to arrest the Assin South MP at his Spintex residence in Accra.
In a interview on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, he revealed that he once personally trusted Charles Alhassan Kipo with a significant and sensitive role in government and would never have expected him to authorise or be associated with such an incident.
“Him, personally, he was my senior. We worked with him. In fact, we gave him a very sensitive job, one way in government. And so there are some things that I would not have expected that they would do,” Mr. Nitiwul said, troubled by the turn of events.
“But be as it may, it was really true when I got there that the NIB had actually sent people to the place.”
The Bimbilla recounted receiving a distressing call about the unfolding situation.
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“I got a call from one of my colleagues that the ranking member of the Defence and Interior’s house has been surrounded by people suspected to be from the NIB, ostensibly to arrest him. A lot of police officers. I counted over 15 of them,” he narrated.
Alarmed, he decided to personally assess the situation, partly due to his past experience as Defence Minister and his working relationship with some of the officers involved.
“When I got there, I didn’t believe that was the case. But I just thought I should go there and find out. Also, being the immediate past Defence Minister, I thought that I could be one of the people who could calm situations down if there’s a need. Truly, when I went, I knew a lot of the principal people who were there. I’ve worked with some of them.”
Mr. Nitiwul described the scene as intense and unsettling. He questioned the operatives on the legitimacy of their actions, particularly whether they had a warrant to arrest the MP.
“The first question I asked was, ‘What do they have? Did they have a warrant? They said no.”
More shockingly, he said the NIB official leading the operation claimed his seniority alone justified the arrest.
“The gentleman who led the operation actually said that he’s a senior person. That alone is enough for him—his face is a warrant in itself.”
Mr. Nitiwul said this rationale was immediately challenged by legal minds present.
“We had a lot of lawyers there who clearly disagreed and told them that you cannot say just because you’re a senior person within the NIB, your face alone is a warrant to arrest a Member of Parliament, or any other citizen for that matter. They all have rights.”
He also raised concerns about the conduct and presentation of the operatives, noting that many were masked.
“Some of the NIB officials, those who were not police officers, covered their faces. For whatever reason, I cannot tell why they did that.”
While police officers were also present at the scene, Mr. Nitiwul emphasized that a lawful arrest requires clear legal justification.
“If the police come to say that we believe that we have reasonable suspicion, and based on that, we are arresting you, that’s a different matter. But we just asked them a simple question: Do you have an arrest warrant to arrest him? They said no.”
Source: Myjoyonline.com
