Former President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo has arrived in Kyebi in the Eastern Region for the 60th Remembrance Service of statesman, scholar and lawyer, John Boakye Danquah, popularly referred to as J.B. Danquah.
He was accompanied by the former First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin.
J.B. Danquah was a key figure in Ghana’s political history who contested Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in the April 1960 presidential election but lost.
On October 3, 1961, he was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act on allegations of plotting to subvert the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and assassinate Dr. Nkrumah.
Although he was released in June 1962, he was later elected President of the Ghana Bar Association.
J.B. Danquah was rearrested in January 1964, without formal charges and was detained at the Nsawam Medium Prison.
He passed away in February 4, 1965, while in prison.
Following the overthrow of the CPP in February 1966 by the National Liberation Council (NLC), he was buried by the state in recognition of his contributions to the country.
JKB/AE
Meanwhile, watch this Ghana Month special edition of People and Places as we hear the story of how the head of Kwame Nkrumah’s bronze statue was returned after 43 years, below: