Former President and Founding father of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has the Akan title “Osagyefo” attached to his.
Osagyefo is an Akan word which translates to ‘the war leader’, and before 1960, it was a certain paramount Chief who was using the title.
Nana Ofori Atta II was the Okyehene who was using the title before 1960 when Nkrumah decided to make use of it.
To obtain this title, Nkrumah had to destool the Okyehene Nana Ofori Atta II, Paramount Chief of Akyem Abuakwa on whom the title of Osagyefo was conferred as an act of honour by the Okyeman Council in March 1957 for the part he played ” in the struggle for, and achievement of, national independence for the chiefs and people of Ghana”.
Nkrumah coveted the title, but there ought never to be two Osagyefos and Nkrumah must be the one to possess it.
The Okyehene was distooled and banished from his traditional seat and the title of Osagyefo taken from him.
From pages 30 and 31 of the book “a Struggle for Freedom” by A.R.C Von Fliescher, printed in 1970 by the Ghana Publishing Company Corporation (Printing Division), has this historical fact.
