Augustus Molade Akiwumi, a Nigerian-born individual who naturalised as a Ghanaian, was featured on the front page of Life Magazine, one of America's most prominent news publications, in January 1960.

Akiwumi, who was then the Speaker of Parliament in Ghana, was featured discussing ‘Ghana’s Leap from Stone Age to Eager New Nationhood’ as part of the magazine’s series titled, Democracy Around the World: Part 1.

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Who was he?

Akiwumi was born in April 1891 in Lagos, Nigeria, to Yoruba parents. Despite his Nigerian origins, he later naturalised as a Ghanaian after relocating to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) with his father as a young boy.

He had his education in England where he proceeded to study law at the Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Akiwumi later on became a trained banker at the Midland Bank, Ludgate Hill, London before he returned to Ghana.

With his background studying law, he was called to the Bar in 1921 at the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.

The Lincoln’s Inn is one of the four inns of the court of London and in order for an individual to practice as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these inns.

Fast forward to 1964, Akiwumi, while a High Court Judge in Ghana, he got appointed as the Legal Secretary in the East African Common Service Organisation.

He went on to become the Speaker of Parliament in 1958. He became a judge in Ghana and was later appointed a Supreme Court Judge from July 1960 until his retirement from the Bench in April 1961.

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He was also one of the justices who inaugurated the Ghanaian Supreme Court in 1960.

He first married a Ghanaian woman, Grace Aryee, and later married Helen Kabuki Ocansey. He died in 1985.

MAG/AE

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