Today in History: The Sunday Sosu became Ghana’s most wanted man and vanished from church

October 31, 2021, is a date that stands out in Ghana’s political history, following a dramatic confrontation involving the police, the then Madina Member of Parliament, Francis-Xavier Sosu, and supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The incident unfolded at the Believers House of Prayer Ministries in Madina, where Sosu was reportedly preaching during a Sunday service when some plain-clothed security personnel arrived at the premises, allegedly seeking to arrest him.

The development triggered confusion and anxiety among worshippers, some of whom reportedly fled the church as supporters and party officials gathered to prevent the lawmaker's arrest.

According to the Madina Constituency Secretary of the NDC, Abdul Razak Husseine, the security personnel insisted they had instructions to arrest Sosu, despite objections from those present.

Husseine described the operation as a possible "Rambo-style arrest", claiming that the officers had no arrest warrant and were unwilling to wait until the church service ended.

The situation reportedly took another turn when Minority Chief Whip at the time, Muntaka Mubarak, intervened and helped move Sosu away from the church premises to an undisclosed location.

The church's head pastor, Bishop Chris Ablordey, also confirmed the tense atmosphere, explaining that he had been approached by security personnel who informed him that they wanted to arrest the MP.

In an interview with Citi News, the pastor recalled asking the officers to allow Sosu to finish preaching before informing him about their presence.

He said some congregants became frightened and fled, but he managed to call them back. "It was worrying, but we give God all the glory that there was no casualty," he recounted.

The demonstration that set everything off

The church incident was the latest chapter in a confrontation that had begun days earlier, following a demonstration over deplorable roads in parts of the Madina constituency.

On October 25, 2021, Sosu joined residents and some youth from communities including Adoteiman and Otinibi in protesting against the poor condition of their roads.

The demonstration, which was intended to draw attention to the infrastructure challenges facing the communities, reportedly became tense after some protesters blocked roads.

The police subsequently began investigating alleged criminal acts associated with the protest, including the unlawful obstruction of roads and the destruction of public property.

According to the Ghana Police Service, Sosu had been invited to assist with investigations but declined the invitation, citing parliamentary privilege.

The police maintained that three other people had been interrogated in connection with the demonstration and insisted that they would use every legal means to question the MP.

However, Sosu disputed the circumstances surrounding the police action, arguing that the demonstration had been properly notified to the authorities and conducted in accordance with the Public Order Act.

He also accused some police officers of attempting to forcibly apprehend and manhandle him while he was performing his parliamentary duties.

A battle between Parliament and the police

The confrontation soon developed into a broader institutional dispute, with Parliament becoming involved in the matter.

Sosu petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to cite two senior police officers, ACP Isaac Kojo Asante and ACP Eric Winful, for contempt of Parliament over their alleged conduct during the October 25 demonstration.

He invoked Article 117 of Ghana's 1992 Constitution, which provides protection against the service or execution of civil or criminal process on a Member of Parliament while the member is attending, going to or returning from parliamentary proceedings.

On October 27, 2021, Speaker Bagbin referred the complaint to Parliament's Privileges Committee for investigation.

The Speaker also expressed concern about reports of police personnel pursuing and allegedly mistreating Members of Parliament, stressing that lawmakers enjoyed special protections because of the nature of their constitutional responsibilities.

But the controversy surrounding the October 31 church incident was far from settled.

Later that Sunday, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement denying reports that it had dispatched personnel to arrest Sosu at the church.

The police described the reports as "untrue", explaining that any plain-clothed personnel who might have been seen at the premises could have been there for intelligence-gathering purposes rather than to effect an arrest.

The service, however, maintained that investigations into the alleged offences arising from the Madina demonstration would continue and that it would pursue lawful means to question the MP.

The conflicting accounts made the incident even more remarkable: while party supporters and the church leadership described an attempted arrest and a dramatic intervention, the police denied authorising an arrest operation at the premises.

Five years later, the episode remains a striking reminder of how a protest over poor roads escalated into a confrontation involving an MP, the police, Parliament and political party supporters.

What began as a demand for better roads in Madina eventually spilled into a church, where a Sunday service became the setting for one of Ghana's most talked-about political standoffs of 2021.

EA