Colonel Festus Boahen Aboagye, a retired security expert, has made a startling revelation about the national security operatives’ search of the private home of former Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor, Dr Ernest Addison last week.
The operation, which has sparked controversy, was condemned by Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who alleged that personal belongings, including jewellery and money, GHC¢10,000 belonging to Dr Addison’s wife, were stolen during the search carried out with a warrant.
The Herald’s information indicates that, Dr Addison resided in Achimota, before relocating to the Ridge area, also in Accra, where he acquired another private residence after becoming Governor.
Col. Aboagye, a security analyst, disclosed that he gathered from the state security apparatus that Dr Addison, had installed electronic surveillance devices in his home that were connected to the Central Bank, allowing him to monitor its activities remotely.
Col Aboagye, speaking on TV3’s The Key Points on March 22, 2025, said: “He had wired his place with what we call backdoor electronic devices. There are devices in this house, wired to the Bank of Ghana, which enables you to monitor what goes on in the bank.
He said that the search was conducted based on this intelligence, adding that the destruction of Dr. Addison’s CCTV camera was actually the removal of a “monitoring wire” used for surveillance.
“What is coming out, unless contested, is that there was intelligence, I’m speaking on what it is that I have checked, that former Governor Addison when I got social information, checked from a source within National Security, certain individuals within the National Security, that he has wired his place with what we call back door electronic devices.
He stressed, “Since then I have received multiple versions of it. He had devices in his house, wired to the Bank of Ghana, which enabled him to monitor what was going on. Monitoring is a very diplomatic word, this is spying, this is surveillance.
“And the state has not authorised anybody in the form of a former BoG to mount surveillance on the premises of BoG. The naked wireless was wired into devices. As far as I’m concerned, that was the objective of that search.”
The claims, have yet to be officially addressed by Dr Addison or his legal representatives.
“In fact, monitoring is a very diplomatic word. This is spying, this is surveillance, and the state has not authorised anybody in the form of a former Bank of Ghana Governor to mount surveillance on the premises of the Bank of Ghana,” he added.
The security expert noted that the operation was based on this intelligence and added that the objective of the search by the National Security operatives, was to retrieve those devices.
“That was the intelligence that the state had. And as the Deputy Attorney General explained, they needed a plan to go. So the wires that we saw were the wires into the device. As far as I’m concerned, that was the objective of that search,” he added.
The governor tendered an early resignation two months before his expected retirement in March.
Col. Aboagye, said: “His retirement was this March, but he is no longer serving at the Bank of Ghana, so he should have disconnected those devices. Why was he still having them?”
National Security Operatives conducted an operation at the home of Governor Addison on March 19, 2025.
According to the Deputy Attorney General, Justice Srem-Sai, the search was lawfully conducted.
However, there were reports that CCTV cameras connected to the Bank of Ghana were found in the former governor’s home.
Last week, Asaase News, reported about armed men numbering about 20 and led by Richard Jakpa, the director of special operations at the National Security Secretariat, raiding the private residence of the former governor Dr Ernest Addison, turning it upside down.
The raid, which occurred on Wednesday (19 March 2025) at about 5 a.m., occurred at the Roman Ridge property in Accra.
Dr Addison, was at home when the heavily armed men, some in balaclavas, wielding AK-47 semi-automatic rifles, showed up to carry out a search.
Asaase News, has gathered that when they arrived, members of the team from National Security immediately disabled the CCTV system at the property.
They then demanded that Dr. Addison lead them to the “vaults” in his house. Our source says the former governor, in shock, calmly told them that he had no vaults or any such cache of cash at home.
However, this did not deter the security personnel, who, according to eyewitnesses, allegedly ransacked the house.
No vaults were found, and no large amounts of cash were found, according to Asaase News sources. After their search yielded no results, they decided to take away the Addison household’s CCTV monitor and control unit with them.
Dr Addison, his wife and their whole family, are said to be traumatised after the raid, a close associate of the Addison family told Asaase News.
As part of the operation, the raid team drove off with Dr Addison’s Toyota Lexus and Mercedes Benz vehicles to an undisclosed location after overpowering the security detail at the former governor’s house.
When contacted about the raid, a former retired senior official of the central bank said, “This is the first time in the history of Ghana that such a thing is happening to a governor of the Bank of Ghana. This is both scary and messy. “
It is at least the second time since President John Mahama was sworn into office on 7 January 2025 that Richard Jakpa has led a group of armed men to raid the home of a high-profile former appointee of the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration.
Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s longest-serving finance minister, was the first such prominent person. His home in Labone, Accra, was also raided by over 15 armed men led by Jakpa on Monday, 10 February 2025.
That raid was captured on CCTV cameras installed at the property, and the footage was subsequently released to the public.