Alleged role of late Libyan president Col. Gaddafi in J.J. Rawlings' coup against Limann government revealed

Corporal Matthew Adabuga, a retired officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, has disclosed some key events that led to the overthrow of the Limann government by a team of soldiers led by Jerry John Rawlings.

Corporal Adabuga recounted in a Joy News interview that the decision by JJ Rawlings to oust the Limann government was hatched following the retirement of Rawlings and some military officers by the government.

According to him, Rawlings became bitter about the government's decision and began to explore ways of ousting President Dr. Hilla Limann.

Adabuga said that despite being informed about the plot by Rawlings and his associates, President Limann failed to take drastic actions and instead transferred the military officer who obtained the intelligence information about Rawlings and his colleagues.

Adabuga, who insists that Rawlings played little role in the coup, revealed that Rawlings gifted him an amount of twenty-one old cedis after his second encounter with him at the Achimota Forest.

According to Adabuga, Rawlings told him the money was given to him by a chapter of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union in Tema for the purchase of some items, but he later discovered that the late Libyan president, Colonel Muammar Al Gaddafi, supported the coup operations with $1 million.

"Even though Dr Hilla Limann said that nothing should be done to him (referring to Rawlings), his contacts and movements were being monitored, so he became a fugitive, moving from one place to another. When I met him at Achimota Forest, he had become very slim, like someone who hadn't eaten for like six months. We spoke about tribal issues and revolutions in Nigeria.

"I told him I was going to inform my mother before returning, and he gave me GHC21. At the time, 21 cedis was big money for transport, and he told me the money was given to him by GPRTU in Tema. They wanted him to buy the helipad things, so the money was fresh. Later on, someone told me Gaddafi gave $1 million for that operation.

"He used some to buy a fishing trawler for his mother," he said.

Adabuga also disclosed that there were multiple coup attempts on Rawlings following the murder of the three High Court judges.

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