A formal petition has been filed with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) calling for the immediate investigation and restraint of the President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS).
The petition, submitted by a veteran financial and economic journalist, mining health and safety professional, and Executive Director of Muyad Social Services, Adnan Adams Mohammed, follows highly inflammatory public statements made by the student leader.
The NUGS leader’s remarks, reported widely across national media platforms on May 30, 2026, under headlines such as “Xenophobia: NUGS President warns of mass action if gov’t renews Gold Fields lease,” threatened nationwide “mass action” if the government moves forward with the statutory renewal of commercial mining leases for Gold Fields Ghana.
The petition strongly condemns the NUGS President’s ultimatum as a predetermined incitement of violence, economic sabotage, and a direct threat to national security. It notes that the student leader’s rhetoric relies on a dangerous misrepresentation of the 1992 Constitution and displays a total ignorance of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
”For an individual who claims the status of a lawyer to stand before the public and confidently misquote the supreme law of the land to justify lawlessness is a professional disgrace,” the petitioner stated. “It brings into serious question how this individual managed to qualify as a legal practitioner in our Republic.”
Key Grounds of the Petition:
Predetermined Incitement to Crime: The petition argues that calling for “mass action” against high-risk industrial installations like mining concessions violates Section 172 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), which prohibits the instigation of riots and unlawful assemblies to disrupt lawful corporate and state processes.
Constitutional Misrepresentation: The NUGS President claimed the state has an absolute mandate to arbitrarily reject lease renewals. The petition points out that while Article 257(6) vests minerals in the President in trust for the people, Article 18 guarantees the right to private property, and Article 20 strictly outlines the rigorous, non-arbitrary conditions and due process required for any form of compulsory acquisition.
Ignorance of Mining Operations: The NUGS leader wrongfully linked a commercially prudent, lawful asset-reallocation strategy by Gold Fields Ghana to external factors completely outside the company’s control and jurisdiction. Large-scale mining operates under multi-year Life-of-Mine (LoM) plans governed by Section 44 of Act 703, where lease renewals are evaluated by the Minerals Commission based on technical competence, safety compliance, and financial capability—not populist coercion.
Xenophobic Economic Sabotage: The petition warns that weaponizing xenophobia against major multinational investors destroys Ghana’s reputation as a stable, predictable jurisdiction for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), risking capital flight and economic instability.
Prayers to the Ghana Police Service:
Through the petition, the IGP and the National Police Headquarters are being respectfully urged to:
Invite and Interrogate the NUGS President regarding the logistics, timeline, and criminal intent behind his public threats of “mass action.”
Issue a Formal Restraining Warning to the NUGS executive body regarding their criminal liabilities under Act 29 should any student-led action result in property damage or breach of peace.
Deploy Heightened Security Assessments around targeted mining installations to safeguard workers, local communities, and critical national economic assets.
”We must remain a nation governed by the sober dictates of the law, not the reckless ambitions of populist agitators who twist our constitution for public applause,” the petitioner concluded.
