Adamu Wangara clocks 120 years and still counting

The oldest man on earth today could be a Ghanaian at Agona Deborase, a small farming community in the Central Region.

Mr Adamu Wangara, who is said to be 120 years old, beats the Guinness Book of Records’ Japanese Kane Tanaka who is 116-year-old.

According to the supercentenarian, he was only seven years when an earthquake occurred in 1906 in Ghana where many lives and properties were damaged.

The oldman said his secret has been God who he believed continue to bless him every day. Apart from that, he said he eats well and doesn’t do things that would affect his health.

If you give Opanyin Wangara Fufu and akple, he will enjoy it. But he will be grateful if you prepare him rice balls with any kind of soup.

Due to his advanced age, Mr Wangara, affectionately called Opanyin Wangara, cannot remember the exact date of birth, except landmark events which occurred around the time he was born.

The oldman can hardly walk and has to usually crawl although with difficulty before he could sit down.

“I used to walk with a stick but for about five months now, I can’t do so. Now I have to crawl and be assisted by my son to sit.

“Sometimes, I experience severe aches in my body throughout the day. But thankfully, I end up being taken by sleep at night. I don’t wish to die now, unless God calls me and gives me a resting place,” he told The Mirror.

He said he had been visiting different doctors for treatment on the pains, but “I end up buying medicines which has drained me. So now I have decided that I won’t go again.”

Care

When The Mirror visited him at his residence at Agona Deborase, Opanyin Wangara was being catered for by his eldest son, Mr Kwame Ibrahim Wangara — 68, with the help of his sister, Fatima Wangara.

The visibly healthy man looked cheerful and welcomed this reporter after the introduction. But he admitted that he usually experienced pains in his legs, feet and waist.

Memory lane

Opanyin Wangara is a devoted Muslim; he prays five times a day and observes all the pillars of Islam because he believes those had made him to live up to this point.

It is no surprise that he can now boast of seeing his third generation alive — more than 15 great-grandchildren and 10 grandchildren and six children.

The whole family is proud of him, and wish he could grow more in age and wisdom.

Throughout the interview, Opanyin Wangara was truthful to himself such that anything he could not remember, he will say “a lot of the events have been long so I can’t remember everything.”

“I heard of the Yaa Asantewaa War and witnessed the first solar eclipse in Ghana as well. I am older than a lot of events in Ghana now.

“Due to my situation of not being able to put down my own age, I decided that anytime I give birth, I’ll let someone put down their age. That’s how come I know the time I gave birth to each of my children,” he emphasised.

He also stated that he knew and heard of all the Presidents of the country, both civilian and military rule.

Residence

He lives in an old cement block house with old roofing at Agona Deborase. On the same compound, one of his children, Abdullahi Adamu Wangara (based in Italy) is putting up a four-bedroom house for him.

Opanyin Wangara was born at Jacobu, a town near Ashanti Bekwai in Amansie Central in the Ashanti Region. But his father, who died many years ago, was a Wangara from Burkina Faso.

His father was a mine worker at Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. The family later moved to Agona Duakwa in the Central Region after he left the mining work to concentrate on farming.

They later moved to Kumasi before they finally settled at Kwawdense near Deborase also in the Central Region.

He never attended school but ensured that his children never went wayward even though he had to travel to different parts of the country to farm.

He is now a successful cocoa farmer and has bequeathed that to his eldest son.

Marriage

Opanyin Wangara married but that did not last. He later remarried Mrs Ayishetu Wangara when he was around 52 years and had 12 children, but five died.

The remaining seven are Kwame Ibrahim Wangara, Fatima Wangara, Adiza Wangara, Amid Wangara, Abdullahi Adamu Wangara, Issaka Wangara and Yakubu Wangara.

“All those I knew from my youthful days, none of them is alive as of today. As far as I know, all those people are dead including my parents and siblings,” the oldman said.

He advised the youth to stay off drinking and put their God-given potential to work.

“I pray for God’s strength for all children. To increase them in wisdom, age and help them to move this country forward,” he concluded.