Ghanaians, particularly residents of the country’s northern region, are mourning the passing of Sulemana Abdul Samed, widely known as Ghana’s tallest man and a beloved local icon who died at 33.
Samed, who went by the popular Hausa nickname Awuche meaning “Let’s Go”, passed away on a Monday morning at Tamale Teaching Hospital, a major medical facility located roughly 160 kilometers south of his home village of Gambaga. He had been admitted to the facility to treat infected sores that developed on his legs, a secondary complication linked to the genetic condition that defined his life.
Born and raised in Gambaga, Samed did not begin experiencing unusual growth until his early 20s. While working at a butcher shop in Ghana’s capital Accra at age 22, he first noticed alarming changes to his body: his tongue swelled to the point that he struggled to breathe, followed by rapid, abnormal growth across his entire frame. He was eventually diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue, which triggered extreme growth of his limbs and a diagnosis of gigantism in his late 20s. When a BBC measurement team documented his height in 2023, he stood at 223 centimeters (7 feet 4 inches) tall, and medical experts suspect he grew even taller in the years leading up to his death. It marked the first accurate official measurement of his height.
The condition brought extensive, life-altering challenges. A curved spine, limited mobility, and persistent health complications forced Samed to abandon his dream of working as a professional driver just nine years after his symptoms first appeared, prompting him to return to his rural home village. He once shared that he had been an active, athletic young man who loved playing football with friends, but the disorder eventually left him unable to walk even short distances and curtailed his social life. For years, he also struggled to cover the cost of ongoing medical care. However, despite the constant hardships of his condition, Samed maintained a remarkably optimistic outlook on life and embraced his local celebrity status.
Earlier in 202[EDIT: 2025, per context of the 2026 date of this report], a prominent Ghanaian businessman stepped forward to support Samed’s care. Ibrahim Mahama, brother of Ghanaian President John Mahama, agreed to cover all of his medical expenses at Tamale Teaching Hospital and shared an update on his planned treatment just weeks before his passing.
Samed’s sudden death has come as a shock to his community, even after doctors had reported he was responding well to treatment for his leg infection. “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,” his cousin Sulemana Abdul Kudus told the BBC. Kudus added that Samed’s fame put Gambaga on the map across Ghana, giving the small rural community a unique national identity. “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,” Kudus explained.
In response to the expected outpouring of grief, Samed’s family has made the decision to hold his burial in Tamale rather than his home village of Gambaga, to avoid overwhelming the small community with the large number of expected mourners.