READY TO DIE: Acheampong Knew Soldiers Would Kill Him But Refused to Flee — Major Adjei-Ampofo

Former military ruler General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong knew his life was in danger when the June 4, 1979 uprising unfolded, but he chose not to run, according to retired Major Patrick Adjei-Ampofo.

Major Adjei-Ampofo, who served as an aide to the former Head of State, said Acheampong was aware that his former colleagues could come for him and ultimately take his life.

“He knew,” Adjei-Ampofo said when asked whether Acheampong knew he would be killed.

According to him, Acheampong was even given opportunities to escape before his execution, but he refused to take them.

“He himself knew,” the retired Major said. “He knew he would be killed.”

When people offered to help Acheampong flee, he reportedly dismissed the idea, choosing instead to face whatever fate awaited him.

“Let them come for me,” Acheampong told those who urged him to run away, according to Adjei-Ampofo.

For his former aide, the response reflected Acheampong’s state of mind at the time. He said the former military leader was not afraid because he believed death was not the end.

“He was ready to go,” Adjei-Ampofo recalled.

“He understood, he knew that there was life after death, and that he would come again.”

Adjei-Ampofo said he followed the news of Acheampong’s execution on the radio.

Asked how he felt when his former boss was killed, he did not hide his emotions.

“I felt sad. I felt very, very sad,” he said.

But beneath the grief was a grim expectation. Adjei-Ampofo said he had already anticipated that Acheampong would eventually be executed.

“But I knew it was coming. I knew he would be killed,” he said.

The retired Major also recounted the difficult period surrounding the uprising, saying soldiers maltreated and molested some of them.

He disclosed that he himself was beaten.

“I was beaten,” he said.

Amid the turmoil, he said he asked Boakye Gyan to arrange a coach to gather them and take them to Nsawam, where they enjoyed what he described as a brief period of relief.

“And then we enjoyed, I think, a week or a few days of relief,” he recalled.

That relief, however, was short-lived.

“And then the second execution started,” he said.

For Adjei-Ampofo, the events marked one of the darkest chapters in Ghana’s military history, one in which his former boss, despite knowing the danger ahead, chose not to run.

“Let them come for me.”

Those words, he said, captured Acheampong’s final acceptance of his fate.