Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe | Nigeria's First President And African Nationalist

Nnamdi - My Father Is Alive 

Take a look at the 500 naira note, the man on there is Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Please bear in mind that the naira note is a tapestry of pictures that represent the things and people we are most proud of as Nigerians and we are definitely proud of Nnamdi Azikiwe.

'Zik' as he was fondly called(16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996) was a Nigerian statesman who was Governor General of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966 (when Nigeria became a republic).

Born to Igbo parents in present day Niger State, as a young boy he learned to speak Hausa. He was later sent to live with his aunt and grandmother in Onitsha (his parental homeland), where he learned the Igbo language. A stay in Lagos also exposed him to the Yoruba language; by the time he was in college, he had been exposed to different Nigerian cultures and spoke three languages (an asset as president).

Azikiwe traveled to the United States where he attended Storer College, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University. He returned to Africa in 1934, where he began work as a journalist in the Gold Coast. In British West Africa, he advocated Nigerian and African nationalism as a journalist and a political leader.

 Nigeria, he was known as a well-versed writer and landed a job as the editor of the African Morning Post in Gold Coast (now known as Ghana). He used the paper to criticize the colonial government.

The Post published a 15 May 1936 article, "Has the African a God?" by I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson, and Azikiwe (as editor) was tried for sedition. After getting arrested for sedition and his sentence was overturned, he returned to Lagos in 1937 and founded the West African Pilot to promote nationalism. 

He later established the Southern Nigeria Defender, the Eastern Guardian and the Nigerian Spokesman. He used his power to write against the colonial governments injustice against the natives thereby raising political consciousness.

In 1944, he co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) with Herbert Macaulay. On the 8th of July in 1945, the Pilot was suspendHerbert macualy 

After an “alleged” assassination attempt, he went into hiding in Onitsha.

He went on to oppose the little influence and representation of the African man in the colonial government. He soon became the premier of Nigeria’s Eastern Region in 1954. In 1960, he became Nigeria’s governor-general and in 1963, Nigeria’s first president.

He retired from politics involuntarily after a 1983 military coup.

He died in May 1996 after battling a long-time sickness.

The New York Times described him as one who “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.”

Personally, I believe the European has a god in whom he believes and whom he is representing in his churches all over Africa. He believes in the god whose name is spelt Deceit. He believes in the god whose law is "Ye strong, you must weaken the weak". Ye "civilised" Europeans, you must "civilise" the "barbarous" Africans with machine guns. Ye "Christian" Europeans, you must "Christianise" the "pagan" Africans with bombs, poison gases, etc.

— Excerpt from May 1936 African Morning Post article which led to sedition trial

A hero indeed but with the present state of the nation, we wonder is our Father still alive?

Did he fight for a better Nigeria in vain?

Keep a date with us as we explore another hero on our naira notes.