A retired Ghanaian Army officer, Corporal Matthew Adabuga, has exposed key events leading to the overthrow of the Liman regime, making startling revelations alleging that the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, supported the coup with significant financial support.
President Liman proposed taking aggressive steps to thwart the coup.
Adabuga said President Liman, despite being informed of the plot, took no significant action and merely transferred military officers who had received information about Rawlings’ plans. Adabuga stressed that Rawlings played a minor role in the coup, but revealed that Rawlings gave him 21 cedis after their second encounter in Achimota Forest.
“Dr. Hilla Liman told him he shouldn’t do anything. [Rawlings]His contacts and movements were monitored, so he became a fugitive and moved from place to place. When I met him in the Achimota forest, he looked as thin as a man who had not eaten anything for six months. We talked about tribal issues and revolution in Nigeria. Adabga said.
Rawlings’ hidden funding
Adabuga said Rawlings told him the money was provided by the Tema chapter of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) for the purchase of goods, but he later learned that Gaddafi had provided $1 million to support the coup operation.
“I told him I would let my mother know before I returned home and he gave me 21 cedis. At that time 21 cedis was a lot of money for transport and he said the money came from the GPRTU in Tema. They wanted him to buy something for the helipad so the money was fresh. Later someone told me that Gaddafi had donated $1 million to the operation. He used the money to buy a fishing boat for my mother.” Adabuga said.
The retired officer also revealed that there had been multiple coup attempts against Rawlings following the murder of four High Court judges, adding further complexity to a tumultuous period in Ghana’s history.