Nnamdi Azikiwe The First President Of Nigeria

Dr Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe born November 16, 1904 in Niger state and died May 11, 1996 in Enugu state, usually referred to as “Zik” was Nigeria first President and the last Governor-general of the country. He was president from 1963 to 1966. He is one of the founding fathers of Nigeria.

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Early Life

Nnamdi Azikiwe attended various primary and secondary mission schools in Onitsha, Calabar, and Lagos before relocating to the United States of America in 1925. He attended several schools like Howard University and the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, where he bagged several certificates and degrees. He contacted colonial authorities with a request to represent Nigeria at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics

In 1934 Nnamdi Azikiwe returned to Africa to work as a journalist in the Gold Coast now Ghana. He was the founding editor of the African Morning Post (a new daily newspaper in Ghana) and was a mentor to Kwame Nkrumah (later the first president of Ghana) before returning to Nigeria in 1937.

Political Life

Azikiwe was active in the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM), the country’s first nationalist organization and later co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) with Herbert Macaulay in 1944 became the council’s secretary-general in 1946. In 1948, with the backing of the NCNC, Azikiwe was elected to the Nigerian Legislative Council, and he served as premier of the Eastern region (1954–59). NCNC was majorly identified with the Igbo people of southern Nigeria.

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Nnamdi Azikiwe was the leader of NCNC during the important 1959 federal elections, which preceded Nigerian independence. He was able to form a temporary government with the powerful Northern People’s Congress, but its deputy leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, took the key post of prime minister. Azikiwe received the largely honorary posts of President of the Senate, Governor-general, and, finally, President.

During the Nigeria Civil war from 1967 to 1970, Azikiwe initially backed his fellow Igbo, travelling extensively to win recognition of Biafra and help from other African countries in 1968. Upon realizing the hopelessness of the war, he threw his support to the federal government of Nigeria in1969.

During the time the military government led by Olusegun Obasanjo the head of state at that time wanted to turn the government over to civilians. Azikiwe ran unsuccessfully for President as the candidate of a newly formed Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) in the elections held in 1979. Before the 1983 elections in Nigeria, the NPP became part of an unofficial coalition of opposition parties known as the Progressive Parties Alliance (PPA). The coalition, could not agree on one presidential candidate and decided to field two—Azikiwe, representing the NPP, and Obafemi Awolowo, representing the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Obafemi Awolowo, the leader of the UPN, was a political rival of Azikiwe, with whom he was often at odds and neither won that election.

An important figure in the pre and post-colonial history of Nigeria politics. Azikiwe served as chancellor of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka from 1961 to 1966 and established the University in 1960. Azikiwe was also chancellor of the University of Lagos from 1972 to 1976

He was the president of several sports organizations for football, boxing, and table tennis. Among his writings are Renascent Africa (1937) and an autobiography, My Odyssey (1970).

Nnamdi Azikwe became the first Nigerian named to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He died aged 91 on 11 May 1996 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu after a long illness

Honours

There is a statue of Nnamdi Azikiwe in Owerri, Imo state. His picture has been on Nigeria’s ₦500 banknote since 2001. Some places named after him include:

• Nnamdi Azikwe Hall, one of the two largest male hall of residence in the University of Ibadan
• Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja
• Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu
• Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State
• Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi