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PRESIDENCY
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PRESIDENTS AND HEADS OF STATE
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
Yar'Adua was born into an aristocratic Fulani family in Katsina;[1] his father, a former Minister for Lagos during the First Republic, held the royal title of Mutawalli (custodian of the treasury) of the Katsina Emirate, a title which Yar'Adua has inherited.[2] [3] His name, Umaru, means "Prosperous".[4] He started his education at Rafukka Primary School in 1958, and moved to Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962. He attended Government College, Keffi, from 1965 until 1969, and received a Higher School Certificate from Barewa College in 1971.[5] He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria from 1972 to 1975, attaining a BSc in Education and Chemistry, and then returned in 1978 to achieve M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry. Yar'Adua's first employment was at Holy
Obasanjo was born in Ogun State,[2] grew up in Owu, and he enlisted in the army in 1958. His name, Olusegun, means "God is victorious".[3] He trained at Aldershot, was commissioned as an officer, and fought against the Biafran secessionists in the Nigerian Civil War. Although he did not directly participate in the military coup of July 29, 1975, led by Murtala Mohammed, he supported it and was named Mohammed's deputy in the new government. As chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters, Obasanjo was Mohammed's deputy and had the support of the military. He had earlier commanded the federal division that took Owerri, effectively bringing an end to the civil war. In 1976, he was marked for
assassination along with Mohammed and other senior military personnel by coup ploters, lead by army col. Dimka. But one colonel was mistaken for Obasanjo, and was subsequently killed together with Murtala on February 13, 1976. A low profile security policy adopted by Murtala in guarding very important persons allowed the plotters easy access to their targets. However, the coup was foiled because they missed Obasanjo and General Theophilus Danjuma, chief of army staff and de facto number three man in the country. The plotters also failed to cut off the communication line, although they were able to take over the radio station to make their announcement. Obasanjo and Danjuma where able to establish a chain of command and re-established security in Lagos, thereby regaining control. Obasanjo was made head of state in a meeting of the Supreme Military Council. Keeping the chain of command established by Murtala Muhammad in place, Obasanjo pledged to continue the programme for the restoration of civilian government in 1979 and to carry forward the reform programme to improve the quality of public service.....Read more>>
CHIEF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
13, 1942 in Minna, Niger State. He was educated at Native Authority Primary School in that city, the Provincial Secondary School in Bida, and finally the Technical Institute, Kaduna.[1] After this, he joined the military. Abubakar led Nigeria's mission to Lebanon and eventually rose to the role of Chief of Defence staff.[1] His wife's name is Fati and they have six children.[2] Reported to have had an initial reluctance to accepting the position,[2] Abubakar was sworn in as president after the death of military dictator Abacha; he shortly declared a weeklong period of national mourning.[1] Several days after assuming office, he promised to hold elections within a year and transfer power to an elected president. (Nigeria has been ruled by military leaders since Muhammadu Buhari seized power from Shehu Shagari in a 1983 coup.) It was during his leadership that Nigeria adopted its new constitution on May 5, 1999, which went into effect the day Obasanjo became president.[3] Surprising some critics of the country's military,[2] Abubakar kept his word and transferred power to elected president Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. Read more>>
ALHAJI UMARU YAR'ADUA
GEN. ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR
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General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar (rtd.) (born June 13, 1942) is a Nigerian general who was President of Nigeria from June 9, 1998 until May 29, 1999. He succeeded Sani Abacha upon Abacha's death. It was during Abubakar's leadership that Nigeria adopted its new constitution on May 5, 1999, which provided for multiparty elections. Abubakar passed power to elected president Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999, the same day the constitution went into effect. Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar was born on June
Child College in Lagos (1975-1976). He later served as a lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria between 1976 and 1979. In 1979 he began working as a lecturer at Collage of Art Science, remaining in this position until 1983, when he began working in the corporate sector.....Read more>>
GEN. SANI ABACHA
General Sani Abacha (Kano, 20 September 1943 – Abuja, 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military leader and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.[1] Abacha was a Muslim of Kanuri extraction. As a young man, he was trained at various Nigerian and British military colleges.[2] He joined the Nigerian military and had been promoted to brigadier by 1983.[2] He was instrumental in the two bloodless military coups d'état that brought and removed General Muhammadu Buhari from power in 1983 and 1985. When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985, Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff. He was later appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.[3] Abacha took over power from the caretaker government of Chief Ernest
Shonekan, which was put into place by General Ibrahim Babangida after his annulment of the 12 June 1993 elections (won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola) caused a massive popular uproar. Abacha's government was accused of human rights abuses, especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Auta tribunal (only one of several cases against Ogoni activists opposed to the exploitation of Nigerian land by multinational oil companies); Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason, and Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason.[2] His regime suffered stiff opposition internally and externally by pro-democracy activists who made the regime unpopular, and responded by banning political activity in general and by controlling the press in particular; a significant fraction of the military was fired, and Abacha surrounded himself with approximately 3,000 armed men loyal to himself.[2] His foreign policy was inconsistent: he did not oppose and even supported the Economic Community of West African States when troops were sent to Liberia and Sierra Leone (to restore democracy).[2] General Abacha died, allegedly of a heart attack, in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day without an autopsy fueling speculation that he may have been poisoned by political rivals. He was 54. After his death, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's defence chief of staff, was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democratic civilian rule which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.[4] Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had six sons and three daughters.[5].....Read more>>
Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan (born 9 May 1936 in Lagos, south-west Nigeria) is a British trained Nigerian lawyer, industrialist and politician. He was appointed as interim president of Nigeria by General Ibrahim Babangida on 26 August 1993. Babangida resigned under pressure to cede control to a democratic government. Shonekan's transitional administration only lasted three months, as a palace coup led by General Sani Abacha via Shonekan's "resignation" forcefully dismantled the remaining democratic institutions and brought the government back under military control on 17 November. Prior to his political career, Shonekan was the Chief executive of United African Company of Nigeria PLC (UAC), a large Nigerian conglomerate. Shonekan was born and raised in Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital. The son of an Abeokuta born civil servant, he was one of six children born into the family. Shonekan was educated at C.M.S grammar school. He also attended and received a law degree from the University of London and was later called to the bar. He soon joined U.A.C in 1964 and was sent to the Harvard Business School for further managerial training. At U.A.C, he pursued a legal path, a few years
CHIEF ERNEST SHONEKAN
after joining the company, he was promoted to the position of assistant legal adviser. He became a deputy adviser two years later, and soon joined the board. In 1980, he was made chairman and Chief Executive of U.A.C. In his early regin as head of U.A.C, he was the Chief Executive of the largest African controlled company in Sub-Saharan Africa. [1] Shonekan was a seasoned and proven businessman with wide contacts across the Nigerian landscape. However, his proven abilities, integrity and no visible political bias made him a prospective leader for Babangida's council of civilian run government, a government which was in the midst of economic turmoil and would later find itself mired in a political crisis. On January 2, 1993, Shonekan assumed office as the head of government affairs under the leadership of military president, Babangida. At the time, the transitional council was designed to be the final phase leading to a scheduled hand over to an elected democratic leader. As the head of the council, he was exposed to the dire condition of government finances which continued under his reign. The 1993 budget was pegged to include a 28 billion naira deficit with little money left in its foreign reserves. The government was hard pressed on his debt obligations and had to hold constant talks for debt re-scheduling. Nevertheless, Shonekan was also in an enviable position. The Armed Forces Ruling Council had designed a realistic two year economic program. The program's outline called for reducing petrol subsidy which will bring in 65 billion naira to government coffers. A modification of VAT was also in the works and a plan to inculcate fiscal discipline in the affairs of government. However, by the end of June, following the cancellation of the June 12 presidential elections, the Nigerian nation was engulfed in political turmoil. Fiscal discipline was not heeded and the government had exceeded his deficit target by the beginning of the second quarter. Calls for the exit of the President became much more prominent and, by August 1993, Babangida had decided to step aside and install an Interim government to succeed him......Read more>>
PRESIDENTIAL NEWS
GEN. IBRAHIM BABANGIDA
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born August 17, 1941), popularly known as IBB, was the military ruler of Nigeria from his coup against Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985 until his departure from office under heavy popular pressure in 1993 after his annulment of elections held that year.
Ibrahim Babangida hails from the Gwari ethnic group and was born in Minna, Niger State. Babangida studied at the India Military School in 1964, the Royal Armoured Centre from January 1966 until April 1966, at the Advanced Armoured Officers' course at Armored school from August 1972 to June 1973, at the Senior officers' course, Command and Staff College, Jaji from January 1977 until July 1977, and the Senior International Defence Management Course, Naval Post graduate school, U.S in 1980. He joined the Nigerian Army's officer corps on December 10, 1962, and served in an administrative capacity
under the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo. He was heavily involved in the Nigerian coup of 1976, when he was to ‘liberate’ a radio station from one of the coup plotters, Col B.S. Dimka (a close friend of his), to prevent him making further announcements over the air waves. Although he did prevent further broadcasts, Col Dimka managed to escape. Babangida once again took up a political position under the administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, whose regime he overthrew on 27 August 1985 in a bloodless military coup that relied on mid-level officers that Babangida silently and strategically positioned over the years. He came to power promising to bring to an end the human rights abuses perpetuated by Buhari's government, and to hand over power to a civilian government by 1990. Babangida issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the IMF and the World Bank, and subsequently launched his "Structural Adjustment Program" (SAP) in 1986. The policies entailed under the SAP were the deregulation of the agricultural sector by abolishing marketing boards and the elimination of price controls, the privatisation of public enterprises, the devaluation of the Naira to aid the competitiveness of the export sector, and the relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s. Between 1986 and 1988, when these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well, but the falling real wages in the public sector and amongst the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain. Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP following mounting pressure, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.....Read more>>
General Muhammadu Buhari (born December 17, 1942) was the military ruler of Nigeria (December 31, 1983 - August 27, 1985) and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the April 19, 2003 presidential election. His ethnic background is Fulani and his faith is Islam; his family is from Katsina State. Major-General Buhari and Major-General Tunde Idiagbon were selected to lead the country by middle and high-ranking military officers
MAJ-GEN. MUHAMMEDU BUHARI
after a successful military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983. Buhari was appointed Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the defacto #2 in the administration). Buhari justified the military's seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and his administration subsequently initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as "War Against Indiscipline" (WAI). Despite authoritarian tendencies, the campaign is still lauded by many to have instilled the most orderly conduct of public and private affairs in Nigeria since its independence in 1960. Buhari and Idiagbon's administration was initially popular with the majority of Nigerians. However, this support quickly ebbed away as the new regime resorted to ever more severe methods to stifle criticism of the government, including the promulgation of the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2, which gave the government the right to detain indefinitely, without trial any person(s) it suspected to be a threat to the nation; and the Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree No. 4, which essentially criminalized any unfounded allegation against government officials in the press, no matter how trivial. Buhari was himself overthrown in a coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1985 and other members of the ruling Supreme Military Council (SMC) ostensibly, because he insisted on investigating allegations of fraudulent award of contracts in the Ministry of Defence (Please refer to Gen. Chris Alli's memoir - The Republic of Nigerian Army). If that investigation had been carried through, it is believed that many senior military officers would have been implicated. Buhari's insistence on this investigation was to become his fait accompli. A Palace Coup was planned and carried out by Babangida and some senior military officers who's necks were heading for the chopping block following the conclusion of the investigation. Without a doubt, this would have become Buhari and Idiagbon's most bitter and shocking lesson on how endemic and widespread corruption had become in Nigeria....Read more>>
ALHAJI SHEHU SHAGARI
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, Turakin Sakkwato (born May 25, 1925) served as the President of Nigeria's Second Republic (1979 - 1983), after the handover of power by General Olusegun Obasanjo's caretaker government.
Shagari is a northerner of Fulani extraction and holds the title of Turakin Sakkwato in the Sokoto Caliphate. He worked as a teacher for a brief period before entering politics in 1954 upon his election to the federal House of Representatives. Shehu Usman Shagari was born in Shagari village to the family of Magaji Aliyu and Mariamu in 1925.[1] His name, Usman, means "Companion".[2] He was raised in a polygamous family, and was the sixth child born into the family. Prior to becoming the Magajin of Shagari, Aliyu, Shehu's father was a farmer, trader and herder. However, due to traditional rites that prevented rulers from participating in business, Aliyu relinquished some of his
trading interest when he the Magajin, or village head.[1] Aliyu died five years after Shehu's birth, and Shehu's elder brother, Bello, briefly took on his father's mantle as the Magajin of Shagari village. The village of Shagari was founded by Fulani Jihadist and cattlemen and later dominated by Hausa traders. Like many Jihadist founded towns, religious recitals was important for children growing up. Shagari was taught recitals at home and later went to a Quranic school at the age of four. However, he was obliged to go to elementary school at Yabo, a town close by. After, he went to the Sokoto Middle School and later to Kaduna college. Kaduna College originally was created to be a teachers training school. There were few high level civil service professions open to indigenes in Northern Nigeria and coupled with the lack of a post-graduate school except the Yaba Higher college; the teaching profession became the dominant career path early graduates of Kaduna college took and Shagari was no exception. After finishing secondary school, he was called on to become the new pupil-science teacher of Sokoto Middle School, shortly after, he was appointed the science teacher for Zaria Middle school. In 1945, after the end World War 2, he moved back to become the science and also history and geography teacher of the Sokoto Middle School. There, he was re-united with his extended family who lived nearby. Six years after, he was posted to Argungu as the headmaster of the new primary school there. After, becoming the science teacher for Sokoto Middle School, he had a close look at arranged marriages. His uncle Magaji Basharu and his brother, Bello had tried to have him marry Basharu's granddaughter. However, Shagari gave the visiting bridal train a tauting look, after the visitors left, the bride sensing the atmosphere followed them briskly. Shagari later married twice to Hadiza and Aishatu Shagari.[1].....Read more>>
GEN. OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
General (rtd.) Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Matthew Obasanjo, GCFR[1] (Yoruba: Olusgun Mathew Okikila Aramu Obasanjo, pronounced [olúsũbásand][citation needed]) (born circa March 5, 1937) is a retired Nigerian Army general and former President of Nigeria. A Christian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation's head of state, once as a military ruler, between February 13, 1976 to October 1, 1979 and again from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007, as elected President. His current home is Ado-Odo/Ota. Obasanjo was born in Ogun State,[2] grew up in Owu, and he enlisted in the army in 1958. His name, Olusegun, means "God is victorious".[3] He trained at Aldershot, was commissioned as an officer, and fought against the Biafran secessionists in the Nigerian Civil War. Although he did not directly participate in the military coup of July 29, 1975, led by Murtala Mohammed, he supported it and was named Mohammed's deputy in the new government. As chief of staff of Supreme
Headquarters, Obasanjo was Mohammed's deputy and had the support of the military. He had earlier commanded the federal division that took Owerri, effectively bringing an end to the civil war. In 1976, he was marked for assassination along with Mohammed and other senior military personnel by coup ploters, lead by army col. Dimka. But one colonel was mistaken for Obasanjo, and was subsequently killed together with Murtala on February 13, 1976. A low profile security policy adopted by Murtala in guarding very important persons allowed the plotters easy access to their targets. However, the coup was foiled because they missed Obasanjo and General Theophilus Danjuma, chief of army staff and de facto number three man in the country. The plotters also failed to cut off the communication line, although they were able to take over the radio station to make their announcement. Obasanjo and Danjuma where able to establish a chain of command and re-established security in Lagos, thereby regaining control. Obasanjo was made head of state in a meeting of the Supreme Military Council. Keeping the chain of command established by Murtala Muhammad in place, Obasanjo pledged to continue the programme for the restoration of civilian government in 1979 and to carry forward the reform programme to improve the quality of public service..... Read more>>
GEN. MURTALA RAMAT MUHAMMED
General Murtala Ramat Mohammed born (November 8, 1938–February 13, 1976) was a military ruler (Head of the Federal Military Government) of Nigeria from 1975 until his assassination in 1976. Mohammed opposed the regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi which took power after a coup d'etat on January 15, 1966 carried out mainly by Christian Igbos from the south, in which several northern Nigerian leaders had been killed under gruesome circumstances. Aguiyi-Ironsi, as GOC of the Nigerian Army, brought normality back to the nation by imprisoning the coup makers and intimidating the federal cabinet into handing over the helms of government to him. However, Many
northerners saw the reluctance of Ironsi to prosecute the coupist and the fact that the army was giving exceptional privileges to the coupist as an indication of Ironsi's support for the killings. Consequently northern politicians and civil servants mounted pressure upon northern officers such as Mohammed to avenge the coup. In the face of provocation from the southern dominated media which repeatedly showed humiliating posters and cartoons of the slain northern politicians, on the night of July 29, 1966, northern soldiers at Abeokuta barracks mutinied, thus precipitating a counter-coup, which may very well have been in the planning stages. According to most southern sources Muhammad at first intended to use the counter-coup as a step towards the secession of northern Nigeria, but later dropped this demand when the economic difficulties of a potential Northern Nigerian State were pointed out to him by civil servants and British diplomats. The counter-coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, despite the intransigence of Mohammed who wanted the role of Supreme Commander for himself. However, as Gowon was militarily his senior, and finding a lack of support from the British and American advisors, he caved in. Gowon rewarded him by confirming his ranking (he had been an acting Lt. Colonel till then) and his appointment (Inspector of Signals).....Read more>>
GEN. YAKUBU GOWON
General Yakubu "Jack" Dan-Yumma Gowon (born October 19, 1934) was the head of state (Head of the Federal Military Government) of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He took power after one military coup d'etat and was overthrown in another. During his rule, the Nigerian government successfully prevented Biafran secession during the 1966–1970 Nigerian Civil War. Yakubu is a Ngas (Angas) from Lur, a small village in the present Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State. His parents, Nde Yohanna and Matwok Kurnyang, left for Wusasa, Zaria as Church Missionary Society (CMS)
missionaries in the early days of Yakubu's life. He grew up in Zaria and had his early life and education there. Yakubu Gowon joined the ranks of the Nigerian army in 1954, receiving a commission as a Second Lieutenant on October 19, 1955, his 21st birthday. He had advanced to battalion commander rank by 1966, at which time he was still a Lieutenant Colonel. Up until that year Gowon remained strictly a career soldier with no involvement whatsoever in politics, until the tumultuous events of the year suddenly thrust him into a leadership role, when his unusual background as a genuine Northerner who was neither of Hausa or Fulani ancestry nor of the Islamic faith made him seem a particularly safe choice to lead a nation seething with ethnic tension. In January 1966, a military coup by a group of mostly Igbo junior officers under the Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, led to the overthrow of Nigeria's civilian government. In the course of this coup, mainly northern and western leaders were killed, including Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria's Prime Minister; Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region; Samuel Akintola, Premier of the Western Region, as well as several high ranking Northern army officers; by contrast, only a single Igbo officer lost his life. This gave the coup a decidedly ethnocentric cast that aroused the suspicions of Northerners, and the subsequent failure by Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to meet Northern demands for the prosecution of the coup plotters further inflamed Northern anger. It should be noted that there was significant support for the coup plotters from both the Eastern Region as well as the mostly left-wing "Lagos-Ibadan" press, which dominated the media at the time. The final straw seems to have been Ironsi's Decree Number 34, which proposed the abolition of the federal system of government in favor of a unitary state, a position which had long been championed by the Souhtern parties - the NCNC and the AG. This was perhaps wrongly interpreted by Northerners as an Southern (Eastern, Midwestern and Western Regions) attempt at a takeover of all levers of power in the country, as the North lagged badly behind the Western and Eastern regions in terms of education, while the mostly-Igbo Easterners were already present in the federal civil service out of all proportion to their numbers as a percentage of the Nigerian population. On July 29, 1966, while Ironsi was staying at Government House in Ibadan, northern troops led by Major Theophilus Danjuma and Captain Martin Adamu stormed the building, seized Ironsi and his host, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, and subsequently had the two men stripped naked, flogged and beaten, and finally machine-gunned to death. Other northern troops, led by Lieutenant Colonel Murtala Mohammed, the real leader of the counter-coup, then seized the Ikeja airport in Lagos. Several Igbo and Eastern minority officers were killed during the counter-coup. The original intention of Murtala Mohammed and his fellow coup-plotters seems to have been to engineer the secession of the Northern region from Nigeria as a whole, but they were subsequently dissuaded of their plans by several advisors, amongst which included a number of high ranking civil servants and judges, as well as emissaries of the British and American governments. The young officers then decided to name Lieutenant Colonel Gowon, who apparently had not been actively involved in events until that point, as Nigerian Head of State. Gowon wasted no time in reversing Ironsi's abrogation of the federal principle upon his ascent to power.....Read more>>
MAJ-GEN. JOHNSON AGUIYI-IRONSI
Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi (March 3, 1924, Umuahia - July 29, 1966, Lalupon, Oyo State) was a Nigerian soldier. He served as the Head of State of Nigeria from January 16, 1966 until he was overthrown and killed in a coup d'état on July 29, 1966. Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was born to Mazi and Ezugo Aguiyi on March 3, 1924, in Umuahia, present day Abia State, Nigeria. When he was eight years old, Ironsi was moved in with his older sister Anyamma, who was married to Theophilius Johnson, a Sierra Leonean diplomat in Umuahia. Ironsi subsequently took the last name of his brother-in-law, who became his father figure. At the age of 22, Ironsi joined the Nigerian Army against the wishes of his sister.[1] Aguiyi-Ironsi excelled in military training at Eaton Hall, England and became a commissioned officer in June, 1949. He soon returned to Nigeria to serve as the Aide de camp to John Macpherson, Governor General of Nigeria. During the Congo Crisis of the 1960s, the United Nations Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, appealed to the Nigerian government to send troops to Congo. Lieutenant Colonel Ironsi led the 5th battalion to the Kivu and Leopoldville provinces of Congo.[1] His unit proved integral to the peacekeeping effort, and he was soon appointed the
Commander of the United Nations Operation in the Congo. Ironsi returned from Congo in 1964 during the post-independence "Nigerianization" of the country's institutions of government. It was decided that the British General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army, Major General Welby-Everard [1], would step down to allow the government to appoint an indigenous GOC. Ironsi led the pack of candidates jostling for the coveted position. A consensus was reached by the ruling Northern People's Congress (NPC) and National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) coalition government, and Ironsi became General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian Army on February 9, 1965.[2].....Read more>>
DR. BENJAMIN NNAMDI AZIKIWE
Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (November 16, 1904 – May 11, 1996), usually referred to as Nnamdi Azikiwe, or, informally and popularly, as "Zik", was the founder of modern Nigerian nationalism and the first President of Nigeria, holding the position throughout the Nigerian First Republic. Azikiwe was born on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru, northern Nigeria to Igbo parents.[2] Nnamdi means "My father is alive" in the Igbo language.[3] After studying at missionary schools in Nigeria, Azikiwe went to the United States. While there he attended Howard University, Washington DC[4] before enrolling in and graduating from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in 1930. He obtained a masters
degree in 1933 from a prestigious Ivy League institution, the University of Pennsylvania.[5] He worked as an instructor at Lincoln before returning to Africa. After teaching at Lincoln, Azikiwe, in November 1934, took the position of editor for the African Morning Post, a daily newspaper in Accra, Ghana. In that position he promoted a pro-African nationalist agenda. Smertin has described his writing there: "In his passionately denunciatory articles and public statements he censured the existing colonial order: the restrictions on the Africans' right to express their opinions, and racial discrimination. He also criticised those Africans who belonged to the 'elite' of colonial society and favoured retaining the existing order, as they regarded it as the basis of their well being."[6] As a result of publishing an article on May 15, 1936 entitled "Has the African A God?" written by I.T. A. Wallace-Johnson he was brought to trial on charges of sedition. Although he was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to six months in prison, he was acquitted on appeal. He returned to Lagos, Nigeria, in 1937 and founded the West African Pilot which he used as a vehicle to foster Nigerian nationalism. He founded the Zik Group of Newspapers, publishing multiple newspapers in cities across the country. Some of the renowned post-independent journalists in Nigeria got their training from working with Azikiwe, whose newspapers were generally anti-colonialism. After a successful journalism enterprise, Azikiwe entered into politics, co-founding the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) alongside Herbert Macaulay in 1944. He became the secretary-general of the National Council in 1946, and was the following year elected to the Legislative Council of Nigeria. In 1951, he became the leader of the Opposition to the government of Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Region's House of Assembly. In 1952, he moved to the Eastern Region, and was elected to the position of Chief Minister, and in 1954 became Premier of Nigeria's Eastern Region. On December 12, 1959, he became the Governor General, and with the proclamation of a republic in 1963 he became the first President of Nigeria, while Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister. Azikiwe and his civilian colleagues were removed from power in the military coup of January 15, 1966. During the Biafran (1967–1970) war of secession, Azikiwe became a spokesman for the nascent Igbo republic and an adviser to its leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu; in 1969, however, he switched to the side of the Nigerian government.[2] After the war, he served as Chancellor of Lagos University from 1972 to 1976. He joined the Nigerian People's Party in 1978, making unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 1979 and again in 1983. He left politics involuntarily after the military coup on December 31, 1983. He died on May 11, 1996 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, in Enugu, Enugu State, after a protracted sickness. His time in politics spanned most of his adult life and he was referred to by admirers as "The Great Zik of Africa". His motto in politics was "talk I listen, you listen I talk"......Read more>>
SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA
BSir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 - January 15, 1966) was a Nigerian politician, and the first prime minister of an independent Nigeria. Originally a trained teacher, he became a vocal leader for Northern interest as one of the few educated Nigerians of his time. He was also an international statesman, widely respected across the African continent as one of the leaders who encouraged the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Abubakar Balewa was born in Bauchi, the son of a Bageri muslim district head in the Bauchi divisional district of Lere. He started early education at the Koranic School in Bauchi and like most of his contemporaries, he studied at the Katsina College for further education and soon acquired his teaching certificate. He returned to Bauchi to teach at the Bauchi Middle School. In 1944, along with a few learned teachers from the north, he was chosen to study abroad for a year at the University of London's Institute of Education. Upon returning to Nigeria, he became an Inspector of Schools for the colonial administration and later entered
politics. He was elected in 1946, to the colony's Northern House of Assembly, and to the Legislative Assembly in 1947. As a legislator, he was a vocal advocate of the rights of northern Nigeria, and together with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of (Sardauna) of Sokoto, he founded the Northern People's Congress (NPC). Balewa entered the government in 1952 as Minister of Works, and later served as Minister of Transport. In 1957, he was elected Chief Minister, forming a coalition government between the NPC and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), led by Nnamdi Azikiwe. He retained the post as prime minister, when Nigeria gained independence in 1960, and was reelected in 1964. Prior to Nigeria's independence, a constitutional conference in 1954 had adopted a regional political framework for the country, with all regions given a considerable amount of political freedom. The three regions then were composed of diverse cultural groups. The premiers and some prominent leaders of the regions later took on a policy of guiding their regions against political encroachment from other regional leaders. Later on, this political environment influenced the Balewa administration. His term in office was turbulent, with regional factionalism constantly threatening his government. However, as prime minister of Nigeria, he played important roles in the continent's formative indigenous rule. He was an important leader in the formation of the Organization of African Unity and creating a cooperative relationship with French speaking African Countries. He was also instrumental in negotiations between Moise Tshombe and the Congolese authorities during the Congo Crisis of 1960-1964. He led a vocal protest against the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 and also entered into an alliance with Commonwealth ministers who wanted South Africa to leave the Commonwealth in 1961. However, a treason charge and conviction against one of the western region's leaders, Obafemi Awolowo, led to protest and condemnation from many of his supporters. The 1965 election in the region later produced violent protests. Rioting and violence were soon synchronous with what was perceived as inordinate political encroachment and an over-exuberant election outcome for Awolowo's western opponents.......Read more>>
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