History of the Famous Big Six | Top Intriguing Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Them

4. Edward Akuffo-Addo

• He started his education at St Peter’s College in Oxford studying Mathematics, but later switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
• He served on the treason trial of fellow Big 6 member Ako Adjei, and was dismissed alongside several other judges who acquitted the accused.
• Awarded honorary doctorate by Oxford University in 1972.

Edward Akuffo-Addo was the only other member of the Big Six, aside from Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who eventually ascended to the highest position in the land. He served as head of state between 1970-1972, before being kicked out of office alongside Prime Minister K.A Busia by a military junta.
Akuffo-Addo, like most of the other members of the Big Six, was a lawyer and later on a judge. He was a well respected legal luminary who played a key role in the shaping of the UGCC platform. Like J.B Danquah, he served in the legislature between 1949 and 1950, helping craft laws for the colony as events inexorably moved towards independence.
This work continued on the Coussey Commission, which was formed in the aftermath of the bloody 1948 riots which created the Big Six. Akuffo-Addo was an influential member of the Commission, whose findings were the backbone of the 1951 constitution, under which the pivotal elections which swept Nkrumah to power were held.
Akuffo-Addo served as a member of the Supreme Court for three years under Nkrumah’s post independence, later becoming Chief Justice under the military NLC.