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Do you remember this face?. Yes you do.
He is the father of
modern Nigerian nationalism and
chief architect of the country's
independence. The first Nigerian
to be appointed Governor-General
and later President of Republican
Nigeria, a sportman and chancellor (nzukka)
who speak hausa, igbo and yoruba fluently. You
could be wandering wether have heard him
speaking the tri-language, history foretells.
Guess he is a linguist.
[(DR BENJAMIN NNAMDI AZIKIWE) popularly
known as zik]…
Dr. Azikiwe was the
founder of the National
Convention Of Nigeria and the
Cameroons ( later changed to
National Convention of Nigerian
Citizens) - one of the ruling
political parties in the country
until the military take-over of
January, 1966.
I vividly lay emphasis on herbert macaulay
lastweek.
Are they inter related or friends?. Yes, they
did.
In 1944 Macaulay co-founded the National
Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
(NCNC) together with Nnamdi Azikiwe and
became its president. The NCNC was a
patriotic organization designed to bring
together Nigerians of all stripes to demand
independence.
In 1946 Macaulay fell ill
in Kano and later died in Lagos. The
leadership of the NCNC went to Azikiwe,
who later became the first president of
Nigeria. Macaulay was buried at Ikoyi
Cemetery in Lagos on 11 May 1946. Nnamdi
Azikiwe delivered a funeral oration at
Macaulay's burial ceremony
Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996) was one of the
foremost Nigerian and West African
nationalists and the first president of Nigeria.
Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on Nov. 16, 1904, of
Ibo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria,
where his father worked as a clerk in the
Nigerian Regiment. His parents gave him the
name Benjamin, but he later changed it to
Nnamdi. He attended school in Onitsha, Lagos,
and Calabar. In 1921, when he discontinued
his secondary school education, he was fluent
in the languages of the three major ethnic
groups of Nigeria--the Hausas, the Ibos, and
the Yorubas--a major asset for the future
Nigerian nationalist. Between 1921 and 1924
he worked as a clerk in the Nigerian treasury
in Lagos.
In 1925 Azikiwe went to the United States to
study. He attended Storer College and then
Howard and Lincoln universities. He received a
bachelor of arts degree in political science
from Lincoln in 1931 and advanced degrees....
.
His father retired on pension from the Civil
Servant in 1925
under the Nigeria Regiment, Third Battalion at
Calabar and died on March 3, 1958.
Dr. Azikiwe’s mother, Rachael Chinwe Azikiwe,
was a great grand-daughter of Obi Ugogwu,
king of Onitsha whose son and heir, Obi
Akazua signed a commercial treaty with
Britain in 1863. She died on January, 1958
.. .. His Political Career.....
Azikiwe also became directly involved in
political movements. In 1937 he joined the
Nigerian Youth Movement, leaving it for the
Nigerian National Democratic party in 1941. In
1944, on Azikiwe's initiative, the National
Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC)
was founded to "weld the heterogeneous
masses of Nigeria into one solid block." Azikiwe
was elected the council's general secretary and
in 1946 its president. In this period his major
political writings, apart from his newspaper
articles, were Political Blue Print of Nigeria
and Economic Reconstruction in Nigeria(both
1943).
He became the first Premier of Eastern
Nigeria in October 1954. He held that post
until December 1959 when he resigned and
contested the general election to the new
enlarged House of Representative. He won the
election.
The Senate having being established in January
1960, Dr. Azikiwe resigned his seat in the
House to become its first President, a post he
held until November 15,1960 he was sworn
in as the first Africa governor general and
commander in chief of the Federal of Nigeria.
And the first president of Nigeria in 1963. He
was conferred with about 8 honorary
doctorate degrees from different university in
Nigeria America and Liberia.
During his lifetime, he held several political
posts, especially in Nigeria. They include
Executive Committee Member of Mambili
Party, Accra (1935–37); General Secretary
of National Council of Nigerian and the
Cameroons (1944–45); President of the
NCNC (1946–60); Vice-President of the
Nigerian National Democratic Party (1947–
60); Member for Lagos in the Legislative
Council of Nigeria (1947–51); Member for
Lagos and Leader of the Opposition in the
Western House of Assembly (1952–53)
Member for Onitsha in the Eastern House of
Assembly (1954–60); Minister of Internal
Affairs (Jan.–September 1954); Minister of
Internal Affairs, Eastern Region (1954);
Member of His Excellency Privy Council,
Eastern Nigeria (1954–59); Primer of
Eastern Nigeria (1954–59); President of the
Senate of the Federation (January–
November 1960); Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria (1960–63);
President of the Republic of Nigeria (1963–
1966); and Chairman and Presidential
candidate of the Nigeria People’s Party
(1978–83).
Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of
the NCNC, held a number of elected public
offices. He was a member of the Nigerian
Legislative Council (1947- 1951), member of
the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953),
premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959),
and president of the Nigerian Senate
(1959-1960). During these years he had
continued to play the single most vigorous role
in Nigeria's march toward independence. While
premier, he greatly expanded educational
facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the
foundation of the University of Nigeria at
Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.
On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent,
and Azikiwe was appointed governor general
with the primeministership going to Sir Alhaji
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, deputy governor
general of the Northern People Congress, the
largest single party of the federation. On Oct.
1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and
Azikiwe was named its first president, a
position he held until he was deposed by the
military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.
In the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, May 1967-
January 1970, Azikiwe at first reluctantly
supported Biafra, but in August 1969 came out
against Biafran secession and in favor of a
united Nigeria.
From 1978-1983 Azikiwe led the Nigeria
People's Party (NPP); he was the NPP's
candidate in the presidential elections of 1979
and 1983. He retired from politics in 1986.
Azikiwe died in eastern Nigeria on May 11,
1996, following a long illness. Marking his
death, the New York Times commented that
Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's
most populous nation, attaining the rare status
of a truly national hero who came to be
admired across the regional and ethnic lines
dividing his country."
He served as
chancellor of the University of Nigeria at
Nsukka from 1961 to 1966, and he was
the president of several sports
organizations for football, boxing, and
table tennis.
He gave up to the ghost on may 11 1996
(enugu) 91 years
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