Opoku Ware II

Who was Opoku Ware II?

Otumfuo Opoku Ware II was the fifteenth King of the Ashanti people in Ghana.

The future monarch was born under the name Jacob Matthew Poku in Kumasi, central Ghana, then still the British colony Gold Coast, in 1919 into the Ashanti royal family. At the time, Prempeh I was Asantehene, as the Ashanti King is called, before being succeeded by his nephew Prempeh II in 1931. Prempeh II in turn was Opoku Ware II's uncle, making the boy one of several candidates to succeed him, as to be decided by the Queenmother, or Nana Asantehemaa. After attending Anglican school, Poku went to Adisadel College in Cape Coast. Then, he worked as a building inspector and later for the Public Works department from 1937 to 1943. After that, he was trained as a surveyor and worked on the Kumasi Traditional Council Hall and Kwame Nkrumah University. In 1945, he married another member of the royal family, Victoria. In the 1950s, he moved to the United Kingdom to study law and was admitted to the Bar in 1962. Returning to his native country, he worked in the capital Accra first and then set up a firm in Kumasi. Through his success as a lawyer, Poku was able attain a great respect in Ashanti politics. In 1968, the National Liberation Council military government appointed him to their executive board as Commissioner of Communications.