For the third consecutive Sunday we'll stay on the African continent & in the 20th century for Military History Sunday. Today I'm discussing "Operation Guitar Boy", the abortive April 1967 coup to overthrow the National Liberation Council (NLC) military government in Ghana.

Some background. In February 1966, the NLC had overthrown Nkrumah while he was away in China. The NLC were therefore less than a year in office when the coup against them was attempted.

The leaders of the coup were young military officers - Lt Samuel Arthur, Lt Moses Yeboah and 2nd Lt Osei-Poku. They were all of the 2nd Reconnaissance (Recce) Regiment of Ho. And they moved with 120 of their men to Accra to carry out the plot.

Interesting factoid. The coup was named Operation Guitar Boy by the plotters after a popular song at the time, Guitar Boy by Nigerian highlife star, Victor Uwaifo. The song was later banned on Ghanaian radio after the coup failed.

2nd Lt Osei-Poku was tasked to take over the Osu Castle where NLC leader, General Ankrah lived. He succeeded in taking over the castle because of superior firepower even though he had a smaller force. General Ankrah however managed to escape through a secret tunnel.

Lt Moses Yeboah confronted Major General Emmanuel Kotoka, Defense Secretary, at the then Ghana International Airport. He shot and killed Maj Gen Kotoka at the airport, and the airport was later renamed Kotoka International Airport in his honour.

Lt Samuel Arthur succeeded in taking over the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and announced the coup. However, Capt Joel Sowu recaptured GBC and announced that the coup had been foiled. The leaders of the coup were arrested.

A military tribunal sentenced Lt Arthur and Lt Yeboah to death by firing squad. And they were executed at the Teshie Range on May 26, 1967. 2nd Lt Osei-Poku was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was pardoned by General Kutu Acheampong on July 10, 1973.

We have the video of the sentence here. Note how young the officers were and how they embraced their fate with a quick march out for the sentence to be carried out.

The motivations for the coup is a topic for hot debate. Some Nkrumaists saw it as a countercoup to bring Nkrumah back. Some saw it simply as ambition and opportunism. A more sinister conspiracy theory is that it was a plot by some NLC members to get rid of Kotoka.

Whatever the motivation, this coup was the beginning of the end for the NLC. 2 years later, they organised a return to civilian rule.

Further reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Guitar_Boy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Council
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Open-Osu-Castle-to-tourists-Ex-coup-plotter-376911
https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/2018/4/17/april-17-1967-nlc-member-lt-gen-emmanuel-kotoka-killed-in-coup-attempt

Join me next week for another episode.