Akani failed to qualify for the first ranking event of the season, losing 4-3 to Oliver Lines in the qualifying round of the 2018 Riga Masters. He beat Fan Zhengyi 6-5 to qualify for the 2018 World Open, where he was defeated 5-2 in the first round by Barry Hawkins. Akani reached the semi-finals of the non-ranking 2018 Haining Open, where he was defeated 4-2 by Li Hang. He followed this by the knockout stage of the non-ranking Six-red World Championship, coming through the round-robin stage by finishing second in Group E, scoring victories over Jimmy Robertson and Mohamed Khairy, and losing to group winner Ding Junhui. In the knockout stage, he beat Stephen Maguire and Mohammed Shebab 6-5 to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 7-5 to eventual champion Kyren Wilson.