CHARLES ANTWI- SUSPECTED GUNMAN @ PRESIDENT MAHAMA'S CHURCH

The gunman who said he had wanted to assassinate President John Mahama has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The suspect, Charles Antwi was arrested last Sunday for wielding a loaded and cocked pistol at the Ringway Gospel Centre branch of the Assemblies of God Church in Accra where President Mahama worships.

Charles Antwi has been charged with unlawful possession of firearm.

He pleaded guilty to the charge proferred against him in court on Tuesday.
Security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre has said the arrest of a 36-year-old man with a weapon in a church attended by the president is a major security breach.

Dr Kwesi Aning minced no words in criticising what he believes is the poor job done by the national security operatives protecting the president.

A 36-year-old man was arrested Sunday morning at the Ringway branch of the Assemblies of God Church with a weapon hidden in his under pants.

He was said to be fidgety and suspicious shortly after taking his seat on the third row of the pew just behind where the president and his family would have sat if they were in church.

Some security personnel noticed his suspicious behaviour and arrested him.

Dr Aning said the laxity with which the security detail has treated issues relating to the president's security is to say the least appalling.

There should have been careful planning, lots of profiling of people who attended the church; scanners and searches ought to have been conducted on people before granting them access into the church, he stated.

He said all that could have been done with a professional touch without compromising on the sanctity of the church service.

Dr Kwasi Aning pointed out that protecting presidents is not about "wearing dark glasses," adding to allow a man with a weapon into a church attended not only by the president and his family but by the Chief Justice as well is the height of ineptitude.

He chronicled a litany of security breaches in the last few weeks and months which ought to have put the president's security detail on the alert but sadly, he noted they have been sleeping on the job.

He cited the violent demonstration by residents of Sodom and Gomorrah after their houses were demolished; the placards they wielded some of which called for Boko Haram; the breach of VVIP at the KIA [the only terminal used by the president] which allowed Nayele and her gang to slip through with cocaine and some other breaches he said should have kept the national security detail on their toes.

The security expert is therefore urging further training for the security personnel guiding the president.

CREDIT: GHANAWEB