3. Ako Adjei

• Ako Adjei attended Lincoln University at the same time as Dr Nkrumah and often had heated conversations with him on the right path for Africa’s independence struggle.
• He once housed Nkrumah in London when the latter didn’t have any available accommodations.
• He survived the longest out of the Big Six, dying in 2002.

As serendipity goes, it doesn’t get any better than a former Civil Service worker who resigned to further his education meeting the star pupil studying for multiple degrees. Yet that was the circumstances that brought Ako Adjei and Nkrumah together, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The pair met as students at Lincoln University, and developed a close friendship over fierce political discussions, which often involved other Ghanaian and African students. When Ako Adjei returned to Ghana and the UGCC needed a General Secretary, he promptly recommended Nkrumah.
Ako Adjei was more than the man who introduced the saviour to the movement, though. He served as a founding member of the UGCC, becoming its secretary. After Nkrumah’s arrival and the widening of the gap between their vision and the Osagyefo’s, Adjei stayed loyal to his party and continued the fight. He contested Nkrumah for the Accra Central seat in the 1951 elections and lost.
He later joined the CPP, serving twice as a minister before being jailed on the accusation of being complicit in the attempted assassination of Nkrumah at Kulungugu.