Sulemana Abdul Samed, the Awuche tallest man in Ghana, died in hospital in Tamale on Monday at 33. The death brought fresh grief to Gambaga, where his family said people were still coming to the house to ask what happened.
Sulemana Abdul Kudus said, "Everyone knew how generous and kind he was. From when he died until now a lot of people are still coming to the house to find out what exactly happened," and added, "Everyone is just sad." He also said, "Anywhere he found himself in the country and they asked him, he would say he is from Gambaga and people knew that was where the tallest man was from. It gave the community identity, and he was popular as well,"
Gambaga and Tamale
He had been admitted because sores on his legs had become infected, and he was about 160km south of his home village of Gambaga when he died. Sulemana Abdul Samed was 7ft 4in tall, or 223cm, when measured by the in late 2022, and had long struggled with complications of Marfan syndrome.
That medical history began to show earlier, when he started to grow quicker than his peers at age 22. He was diagnosed with gigantism in his 20s, and he later told the, "I realised my tongue had expanded in my mouth to the extent that I could not breath [properly]," while working in Accra.
Tamale Teaching Hospital
Ibrahim Mahama had offered to cover his medical bills at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, and he gave an update on the planned treatment earlier this month. The sores on his legs were likely a complication caused by his condition, leaving his final hospital course tied to a disease that had shaped much of his adult life.
For residents of Gambaga and his relatives, the immediate question now is not who he was, but how the condition reached this point after treatment plans had already been discussed. His death closes the latest chapter in a case that had made Awuche a local figure far beyond Tamale.
