Dominic Nitiwul, Former Minister of Defence
A former Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has expressed disbelief after he later found out that the Director-General of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), Charles Alhassan Kipo, sanctioned the arrest of Assin South MP, Rev John Ntim Fordjour.
Nitiwul, who described the NIB boss as a senior colleague he personally entrusted with a sensitive job in the security sector, expressed his disappointment in him.
He stated that he once personally trusted Charles Alhassan Kipo with a significant and sensitive role in government and would never have expected him to authorise such an incident.
“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,” Nitiwul said during an interview on Joy News’ PM Express on April 9, 2025.
He noted that he was surprised to learn that his own colleague had given the order when he went to the NIB office to ascertain the facts in the matter of Ntim Fordjour’s arrest.
“But be as it may, it was really true when I got there that the NIB had actually sent people to the place,” he said.
The Bimbilla MP recounted receiving a distress call about the unfolding situation.
“I got a call from one of my colleagues that the ranking member of the Defence and Interior Committee’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 said 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,” he said.
He described the scene as intense and unsettling, so he queried the operatives on the legitimacy of their actions, especially because they did not have a warrant to arrest the MP.
He added that what was even more alarming to him was the fact that the NIB official leading the operation claimed his seniority alone justified the arrest.
“The first question I asked was, ‘What do they have? Did they have a warrant? They said no.
“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,” he narrated.
Nitiwul added that this rationale was immediately challenged by legal experts 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 explained.
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,” he said.
While police officers were also present at the scene, Nitiwul emphasised 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,” Nitiwul recounted.
VPO/AE
Meanwhile, catch up on the concluding part of the story of Fort William, where children were sold in exchange for kitchenware, others, below:
