Samia Nkrumah recalls terrifying 1964 assassination attempt on her father, Kwame Nkrumah

Samia Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has recounted a terrifying assassination attempt on her father in early January 1964, describing how she and her older brother saw him return home from the attack covered in blood.

Speaking at the Padmore-Du Bois-Nkrumah Lecture, organised by the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Samia said the incident remained one of the most frightening memories of her childhood.

She recalled that whenever her father was in Accra and available, he would cross from his office at Flagstaff House to the family residence to have lunch with his children.

“We loved watching him eat with his hand, his fufu and his soup,” she recalled, describing the family moments they shared with their father.

But, she said, one particular day in early January 1964 was different.

“That particular fateful day, early January 1964, we had no lunch. What I saw, together with my older brother, is our father entering the house, covered in blood, with his cheek almost falling out.”

According to Samia, the President had just survived what she described as one of the most serious attempts on his life.

She said Nkrumah was walking with his trusted bodyguard, Salifu Dagati, when gunfire was directed at him. In an attempt to protect the President, Dagati moved in front of him and was fatally shot.

“To save our father, his trusted bodyguard, Salifu Dagati, quickly moves in to cover him. He takes the bullet and dies on the spot, giving his life for his president,” she said.

Samia said that after the shooting, her father confronted the assailant and managed to overpower him.

“In shock and confusion, our father sees the assassin and rushes to him. And they get into a scuffle. Our father, who was over 50, puts the man down, manages to pin him down,” she recounted.

She said the attacker eventually bit Nkrumah on the cheek in an attempt to escape, causing a severe injury and accounting for the blood that covered his white political suit when he returned to the family residence.

Nkrumah, Du Bois and Padmore

Samia placed the incident within the broader context of her father’s Pan-African work and his relationships with two prominent intellectuals and Pan-Africanists, W. E. B. Du Bois and George Padmore.

She welcomed keynote speaker P. L. O. Lumumba and his wife to Ghana, which she described as “the original seat of Pan Africanism on African soil.”

She also acknowledged ministers, Members of Parliament, political party representatives, traditional leaders and guests from Russia and Guinea.

According to Samia, Du Bois and Padmore were her father’s “intellectual brothers” and “intellectual soul mates,” and together they contributed significantly to the development of Pan-African thought.

She recalled that Nkrumah met Du Bois in the United States in the 1940s and later worked with Padmore in Manchester during preparations for the Fifth Pan-African Congress in 1945, which she described as a prelude to African liberation and political independence.

She said Nkrumah subsequently brought both men to Ghana to contribute to the country’s nation-building efforts.

Du Bois was placed in charge of the Encyclopedia Africana, with the objective of documenting African history from an African perspective, while Padmore headed the African Bureau, which Samia described as central to Ghana’s support for liberation movements across the continent.

Nkrumah’s vision of African unity

Samia said her father’s Pan-African vision did not distinguish between Africans on the continent and people of African descent living elsewhere in the world.

“For him, there was no separation, no difference between Africans abroad and Africans on the continent,” she said.

She recalled Nkrumah’s belief that people of African descent in North America, South America, the Caribbean and other parts of the world belonged to the African nation.

Turning to her father’s economic vision, Samia said Nkrumah believed Africa could not achieve meaningful economic progress or meet the basic needs of its people unless African countries worked together.

She said his vision called for Africans to build industries together, develop infrastructure together, plan together, study together and work together.

“Our father gave his life for this mission,” she said.

A call to revisit Nkrumah’s ideas

Samia urged a new generation of Africans to revisit Nkrumah’s ideas and consider how they could be adapted to contemporary circumstances.

“It is our duty as his children, collectively and grandchildren, to remember the narrative, to not be afraid, to revisit his ideas, capture them, and adapt all that we can to today’s changing circumstances,” she said.

She expressed appreciation to those involved in organising the lecture and promoting discussions around Pan-Africanism and Nkrumah’s legacy.

“I know he will be smiling down on us today,” she said.

The lecture brought together political representatives, traditional leaders, international guests and others to reflect on the contributions of Kwame Nkrumah, W. E. B. Du Bois and George Padmore to Pan-Africanism and Africa’s political and economic development.

By Francis Quasie