Major General Neville Alexander Odartey-Wellington (1934–1979) was a Ghanaian army officer who was Chief of Army Staff of the

Ghana Army The Ghana Army is the principal land warfare force of Ghana. In 1959, two years after the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast became independent from the British Empire, the Ghana Regiment, Gold Coast Regiment was withdrawn from the Royal West ...

from 1978 to 1979. He died in action leading loyal troops against revolting forces during the 4 June 1979 military uprising in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

which toppled the Supreme Military Council II government led by

Fred Akuffo Lieutenant General Frederick William "Fred" Kwasi Akuffo (21 March 1937 – 26 June 1979) was a Ghanaian soldier and politician who was the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces from 1976 to 1978, and chairman of the ruling S ...

Military career

Neville Odartey-Wellington attended

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Single-sex education, boys' high school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. Founded as a private school in 1931, it gained the status of a Government ...

and various military training institutions including the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

(RMAS), and the

United States Army Infantry School The United States Army Infantry School is a school located at Fort Benning, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia that is dedicated to training Infantry Branch (United States), infantrymen for service in the United States Army. Organization The school ...

(

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

). After being commissioned as an officer, he saw action in the Congo during the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis () was a period of Crisis, political upheaval and war, conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost ...

, and also served in the Ghanaian

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...

contingent in the

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. Described as a “soldier’s soldier”, Odartey-Wellington served in military command and civil administrative positions under the

National Redemption Council The National Redemption Council (NRC) was the ruling Ghana military government from 13 January 1972 to 9 October 1975. Its chairman was Colonel I. K. Acheampong, who was thus also the head of state of Ghana. Duration of rule The NRC came into ...

(NRC) and Supreme Military Council I (SMC I) governments led by I. K. Acheampong. He was Chief Executive of the Ghana Timber Marketing Board, Commissioner (Minister) of Health, and subsequently Commissioner of Agriculture tasked with implementing Acheampong's nationalistic "Operation Feed Yourself" program, before reverting to the position of Commander, No. 1 Infantry Brigade Group in 1977,. He is believed to have led the palace coup that removed General Acheampong as Head of State in July 1978. In the reconstituted SMC regime or SMC II led by General F.W.K. Akuffo, Odartey-Wellington was promoted from brigadier to major general, and became Army Commander or Chief of Army Staff and thus, a member of the SMC's cabinet . In his capacity as a cabinet member, Odartey-Wellington led the Ghanaian delegation to the General Debate of the thirty-third session of the UN General Assembly in October 1978, where, apart from delivering a blistering attack on the Ian Smith regime in what was then Rhodesia, as well as South Africa's apartheid policy and its occupation of Namibia, he reaffirmed Ghana's commitment to Palestinian self-determination, including the option to establish an independent State.

Death

The SMC II commenced the transition to multi-party democratic rule, but was itself overthrown in a bloody coup on June 4, 1979, during which Major General Odartey-Wellington was killed while leading loyal troops. Although the coup was successful, he was buried with full military honours by the new regime at the Ghana Military Cemetery in Osu. Major General Odartey-Wellington had previously foiled another coup on 15 May 1979. As Chief of Army Staff, Odartey-Wellington's death, coupled with the capitulation of Chief of Defence Staff Lieutenant General Joshua Hamidu, compromised the ability of the SMCII to resist the June 4th revolt. His colleagues subsequently surrendered and most of them were executed without due process by the new regime. Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission has highly commended Odartey-Wellington for his sense of duty and “daring leadership” in trying to quell the revolt so as to safeguard the transition process. In September 1995, the Ghana Army commissioned the multi-million cedi Odartey-Wellington Tennis Court at the Army Officers' Mess in Accra in honour of the late Army Commander, who had been an avid tennis player.

Private life

Major General Odartey-Wellington was survived by his wife Comfort and five children: Comfort, Esther, Dorothy, Michael, and Felix. Mrs Comfort Odartey-Wellington died in 1997 and was buried next to her husband at the Military Cemetery in Osu. Odartey-Wellington's children have since been involved in high-profile clashes in the press with

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

, the airman who led the 4 June 1979 coup that resulted in the killing of the former Army Commander.Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
"Ghana's media feels election heat"
BBC News - Africa, 7 November 2000. One such clash culminated in the detention of Felix Odartey-Wellington by Ghana's Bureau of National Investigations(BNI) in 2000 after he had described Rawlings as a "political conman" on national television.Wisdom J. Tettey, Korbla P. Puplampu, Bruce J. Berma (eds)
''Critical Perspectives in Politics and Socio-Economic Development in Ghana''
Leiden Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, 2003, p. 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odartey-Wellington, Neville Alexander Alumni of the Accra Academy Ga-Adangbe people Ghanaian soldiers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 1979 deaths 1934 births Ministers for health of Ghana Agriculture ministers of Ghana Chiefs of Army Staff (Ghana)