Major Patrick Adjei-Ampofo (Rtd), who served as Military Assistant to former Head of State, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, has recalled the events surrounding the 1966 military coup and how he felt when he first learnt that he and other soldiers were called upon to overthrow Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Speaking in an interview with Kafui Dey which aired on August 31, 2026, Major Patrick Adjei-Ampofo (Rtd) said he was heartbroken when he discovered that a military exercise he was selected for was connected to a plan to overthrow Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

According to him, he was in the bush, where he had been given a platoon to go on patrol to locate the enemy position, when he was informed that the exercise was being halted because they were going to participate in a bigger brigade exercise.

“Mind you, I hadn’t been in the barracks, I didn’t go with my wife, I was a single person then. And I just dumped my luggage, bags and everything and joined them. So straight from the bush to Accra, only to learn that we were going to overthrow Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.

Today In History: Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah overthrown in a coup d'état

When the host, Kafui Dey, asked Major Adjei-Ampofo how he felt when he found out that they were going to overthrow the president then, he described the experience as terrible.

“It was terrible. My family were staunch CPP. And in the constituency where we were, Fanti Newtown, we were the centre of the activity. And the action troopers, we used to call them, came there to have a bite and have a potion to protect themselves and that sort of thing,” he said.

Major Adjei-Ampofo further explained that his family, particularly his aunties, were strong supporters of the CPP, making the situation difficult for him personally.

According to him, when he was eventually informed, just outside Accra, about what they were actually going to do, he was deeply saddened by the realisation that he was about to participate in the overthrow of a political party he and his family supported.

“My aunties were strong CPP. But when I was told that, we were told at Dodowa Junction, just outside Accra, that this is what we were going to do, I was broken-hearted. Going to overthrow my party. So, well, soldier, you can’t disobey,” he stated.

Having grown up in a family that supported the CPP and Dr Kwame Nkrumah, he recalled being personally affected by the realisation that he was being asked to participate in the overthrow of a government and political party to which his family was deeply loyal.

Despite his reservations and heartbreak, he said he ultimately had to carry out the orders because, as a soldier, he could not disobey.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah was unconstitutionally ousted from office through a military coup in 1966. The coup was launched by elements within the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service under the National Liberation Council (NLC), with the operation codenamed “Operation Cold Chop.”

The coup took place while Dr Kwame Nkrumah was outside Ghana on a peace mission to Hanoi, North Vietnam, at the invitation of Vietnamese premier Ho Chi Minh.

“Operation Cold Chop” subsequently removed President Kwame Nkrumah from power and brought the NLC into government.



AK/AM