Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul has ruled out a military coup in the face of increasing unlawful takeovers of democratically elected government parts of West Africa.

Last week, presidential guards in Niger deposed President Mohammed Bazoum's administration, making the country the fifth in the sub-region to experience an upheaval.

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But with rising concerns that relatively stable democracies such as Ghana may fall victim to extremist activity, Mr Nitiwul believes the Ghanaian military is professional and will not be interested in a coup d'etat.

He entreated Ghanaians who desire a change of administration due to bad governance to vote in the next general election.

The Minister was speaking at a counter-terrorism exercise held in honour of the United Kingdom’s Foreign Minister, James Cleverly.

“I think that the most important thing all of us must know is that we cannot accept the use of force or arms by any individual or a group of individuals because they have arms. No! Those days are gone. No nation should accept that” he urged.

He added “Especially like Ghana, it is dangerous to encourage individuals to use force of arms to take out a government and we should not accept that in our nation. Not today, not tomorrow.”

According to him, the Ghana Armed Forces is on standby waiting for directives from the “various armed forces across the globe. And if the decision is to use force, armed forces of every country will contribute troops to use that force.”

In a related development, military chiefs from Ghana and other West African countries under ECOWAS have begun consultations on a possible deployment of military forces to restore constitutional order in Niger.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray relaying the decisions taken by the regional body has ordered the Junta to hand over power in one week or will be forced out.

He directed the Chief of Defence and the staff of ECOWAS to meet with immediate effect.

“Consider the illegal detention of President Bazoum as a hostage situation and hold the authors of the attempted coup d’etat solely and fully responsible for the safety and security of Mohammed Bazoum as well as members of his family and government.

“In the event that the authority demands are not met within one week, take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. Such measures may include the use of force,” he ordered.