The Ghanaian Musician Who Was Sentenced To 'Death'

“Come on now,the sun is shining high,

Gather round, lets do it once again

I promise you will have a good time

Lets do it,the best way that we know

Dancing Highlife,calypso dance, moonlight music lets get together do the limbo

Dancing Highlife, calypso dance sunshine music lets come together do the limbo..”

Above is the lyrics of ‘Highlife in G-Major’. Released in 1986, it is one of the timeless songs to ever come out of Ghana. The composer and singer is Nana Akwasi Agyemang known by the stage name GeeMan.

Geeman became a household name in Ghana after he won a national dance championship. Prior to that , he was known by Accra nightclub lovers because he was involved in Jams.

His success in the dance championship afforded him the opportunity to travel around the world after which he settled in Belgium.

He became known as ‘Ghana’s Michael Jackson’ because of his ability to dress and dance perfectly like Michael Jackson. 

Apart from dancing, he was good at playing some instruments hence his love for music and release of a great song like ‘Highlife in G-Major’. His popularity and talent gave him some wealth. He drove a fancy sports car, owned a decent home in Ghana, had good looks, a permed hair and had his whole future ahead of him. But disaster came knocking in 1995.

Geeman had interest in movie production and had contacted his friend, Abeiku Nyame, popularly known as Jagapee. They scheduled an appointment and met at his home. They waited for a lady, Nadia(NOT Buari) who had expressed an interest in acting. She arrived later in a taxi but it was realized that a scuffle had ensued between she and the driver. The driver was charging more than the 3000 cedis(Thirty Pesewas in present value) that Nadia had agreed to pay.

 When Geeman heard of the issue, he brought out the 3000 cedis and threw it into the car. The driver of the taxi sped off with his car only to return to the scene of the scuffle to fetch the sand of the footprints of GeeMan.

Believing he was going to use it for juju, Jagapee rushed and held the driver to restrain him from driving away with the sand. An angry GeeMan came out with a gun, and in what is believed to be an attempt to threaten the driver, ended up shooting the driver leading to his death.

His whole world and the promise that it held seemed to crumble down to his feet, when after trial he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Jagapee was initially sentenced to life in prison for his role in the case, but after an appeal, it was whittled down significantly to 2 years. The lady however was not charged with any crime and was discharged.

Now because the death sentence had not been carried out for a long time, it meant that GeeMan was going to spend the remainder of his life in the condemned cells of the Nsawam Prison.

He was in jail for fourteen years when in early 2009, just a few days before former President John Kufuor left office, he was granted a presidential pardon and released.

Geeman would later reveal that, it was the family of the late taxi driver who beseeched the presidency for his release.

He is now a pastor in the United States and goes by the name Pastor Geelove.

Content created and supplied by: SacramentoDistin (via Opera News )