Adam was born in 1919 at Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana (then Gold Coast).
[4][5] Adam worked as a teacher in Methodist mission schools in Asokore, Bekwai, Kumasi and Tamale from 1940 to 1949.
[4] He gave up the teaching profession to venture politics and joined the Convention People's Party.
[4] He became a local court magistrate in 1960 and in that same year he was elected into parliament to represent the Gulkpegu Nanton constituency.
[4] He died on 29 August 2011 at the Tamale Teaching Hospital after a short illness.