The immediate past Defence Minister has criticised what he describes as a disturbing overreach by officials of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), after a dramatic attempt to arrest the Assin South MP, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, at his residence in Spintex, Accra, without a court-issued warrant.

Dominic Nitiwul, speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, recounted how he was alerted by a colleague that the MP’s home had been surrounded by operatives “suspected to be from the NIB.”

“I got a call from one of my colleagues that the ranking member on defence and interior’s house has been surrounded by people suspected to be from the NIB, ostensibly to arrest him. A lot of police officers. I counted over 15 of them,” he revealed.

The Bimbilla MP, who served as Defence Minister until January, said he rushed to the scene, initially finding it difficult to believe that such a situation was unfolding in the capital.

“I just thought I should go there and find out. Also being the immediate past Defence Minister, I thought I was part of the people who could calm situations down if there’s a need,” he said.

Upon arrival, Mr Nitiwul recognised several individuals involved in the operation, he said.

Read also: NPP bigwigs storm Ntim Fordjour’s house to prevent his purported arrest

“Truly, truly, when I went, I knew a lot of the principal [officers] who were in there. I’ve worked with some of them in the place.”

But what stunned him most was the justification one NIB official gave for attempting to arrest the MP without legal authorisation.

“The first question when I went is I asked them… did they have a warrant? They said no,” Nitiwul recounted.

“In fact, the gentleman who led the operation actually said that he’s a senior person. That alone is enough. For him, his face is a warrant by itself.”

The former Minister expressed disbelief, calling the comment both dangerous and unlawful.

“We had a lot of lawyers there who clearly disagreed and told them that you cannot say just because you are a senior person within the NIB, your face alone is a warrant to arrest a Member of Parliament, or any other citizen, for that matter. Because they all have rights.”

He clarified that while police may act on reasonable suspicion, the situation at the MP’s residence didn’t meet that threshold.

“If the police come to say that we believe that we have reasonable suspicion, based on that we are arresting you—that’s a different matter. But we just asked them a simple question: Do you have an arrest warrant to arrest him? He said no.”

Mr. Nitiwul also raised concerns about the composition and conduct of the operatives on the scene, noting that some appeared to be NIB officials dressed in plain clothes with covered faces.

“They were there with the police. But those who came and we met them—the leadership—were NIB officials. They were not dressed in police uniforms. A lot of them covered their faces. For whatever reason, I cannot tell why they did that,” he said.

The former Minister stressed that despite knowing and having worked with some of the key NIB actors, he did not expect such an approach, especially under the leadership of someone he personally entrusted with sensitive assignments while in government.

“There are some things that I would not have expected that they would do,” he said. “But be as it may, it was really true when I got there that the NIB had actually sent people to the place.”

He reiterated that no individual, no matter their rank or position, should act above the law.

“Nobody’s face is a warrant in this country.”