The late Tolon Naa Abukari Sulemana
The Tolon Naa Abukari Sulemana, one of the front row traditional authorities, has passed on aged 83.
The retired former Commanding Officer of the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, previously RECCE Regiment, is a part of Ghana’s military and political history, his subsequent interviews giving insight into the occurrences during the turbulent days of the country’s past.
On May 15, 1979, he foiled an attempt to overthrow the Supreme Military Council (SMC) II junta.
His rescue of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings at the Air Force Base in Accra saved the man who later became head of state. He drove him to his office and kept him under his guard.
Following the success of the June 4 coup, he was eventually forced to go into exile during which period he was invited by Liberia’s Charles Taylor.
Born in 1943 in Tali, nearly Tolon in the Northern Region, he was commissioned into the Ghana Army in 1963. He became one of Kwame Nkrumah’s escort officers.
He returned to Ghana in 2000 and became a part of President Kufuor’s national security system.
Being a son of the late Tolon Naa Alhassan Sulemana, he succeeded him when the late Yaa Naa Abukari Mahama II enskinned him in 2019.
He has since been buried.