Today, as Ghana commemorates the 117th birthday of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, I am reminded of 21 September 1998, a day I should probably not have survived.
I was in the land of the Serbs, at Janja (pronounced Yanya), in Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving as a United Nations Civilian Police officer. I was on patrol on the Serb side of Brčko with two Nigerian CivPol officers and a Serb-language assistant.
We were ambushed by Croatian rebels.
They immediately shot the language assistant when they recognised her as a Serb. The Nigerian officers were then attacked. One was shot in the leg.
Then their leader turned towards me, gun drawn.
I froze.
My heart seemed to miss a beat or two. I thought I said a prayer, although I cannot remember what I said. I closed my eyes, expecting the end.
But the end seemed to take an eternity.
Then I heard him shout:
“Ghana! Nkrumah!”
I opened my eyes.
He came closer, patted me on the shoulder and said:
“Nkrumah, Tito. Brothers!”
That was the moment everything changed.
They took our patrol vehicle and sped away, leaving one person dead, one wounded and me alive, although badly shaken.
I have often reflected on that extraordinary moment. I was thousands of miles from Ghana, in the middle of a brutal civil war, wearing the Ghanaian emblem on my uniform. Yet it was the name of Nkrumah that was recognised by the man who had my life in his hands.
Nkrumah’s name had travelled far beyond Ghana.
He was not merely a Ghanaian leader. He was a Pan-Africanist and an international statesman whose influence reached places and people far beyond our shores.
That day in Janja, I experienced the meaning of that influence in the most personal way possible.
A gun was pointed at me.
Then came two words:
“Nkrumah. Tito.”
And I lived.
Today, on his 117th birthday, I remember Osagyefo not only as the leader whose vision shaped Ghana and inspired Africa, but as the man whose name, uttered by a stranger in a distant land, became part of my own story of survival.
Happy 117th Birthday, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Your name reached me in Bosnia when I needed it most.
Nkrumah and Tito. Brothers.
🇬🇭🌍