Biography of dr nnamdi azikiwe

On 11 May , Nigerian lawyer, political scientist, journalist, political activist and statesman Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, usually referred to as "Zik", passed away at the age of 91 at Enugu, after a long illness. He was the first President of Nigeria from to

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on Nov. 16, , to Igbo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria, where his father worked as a clerk in the Nigerian Regiment. He attended various primary and secondary mission schools in Onitsha, Calabar, and Lagos. When he discontinued his secondary school education in , he was fluent in the languages of the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria, namely Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. In Azikiwe went to the United States to study, where he attended several schools. He earned multiple certificates and degrees. In the early s, he taught political science at Lincoln University for three years before returning to Africa, where he founded the first of the five newspapers he would create, The African Morning Post, in Accra, Ghana.

In Azikiwe returned to Nigeria and worked as an editor and essayist before getting directly involved in politics. He became a member of the Legislative Council in , and he later served as premier of the Eastern region (–59). At independence from Britain in , Azikiwe became Governor General of the Nigerian Federation, and President in , when the country was declared a republic.

In the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, from May to January , Azikiwe first backed his fellow Igbo, traveling extensively in to win recognition for Biafra and to ask for help from other African countries. However, in ,  realizing the hopelessness of the war, he threw his support behind the federal government in favour of a united Nigeria.

From Azikiwe led the Nigeria People's Party (NPP); he was its candidate in the presidential elections of and He retired from politics in

In addition to being an important figure in the history of Nigerian politics, Azikiwe had b

Author: Azikiwe, Nnamdi (Nigeria. Office of the President)

Date: October 26,

Location: Lagos, Nigeria

Genre: Letter

Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Travels

Details

Nnamdi Azikiwe, the newly appointed governor-general of Nigeria, writes in the hope that King will attend his inauguration. King traveled to Lagos in November to attend the festivites, which included several luncheons and a dance performance in honor of the African independence leader and his wife.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jnr,
c/o Dr. Marguerite Cartwright,
57 Fifth Avenue,
New York 3, N.Y.

My dear Reverend King:

This is to inform you that I have included your name in the list of invitees to attend my inauguration on November 16,, when I will be sworn in as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Federation of Nigeria.

The occasion will be of historic interest because it will be the first time in our national history when a person of African descent will be assuming the high office of Head of State in Nigeria, as representative of Her Majesty the Queen, Head of the Commonwealth.

I hope that when the official invitation reaches you, you will be disposed to accept same. I am looking forward to an early reunion with you.

With kind wishes.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
NNAMDI AZIKIWE

Nnamdi Azikiwe (), born in Zungeru, Nigeria, attended missionary schools in Lagos before receiving a B.A. () and an M.A. () from Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He also received an M.S. () from the University of Pennsylvania. Azikiwe edited the Gold Coast's Africa Morning Post in the mids and was convicted of sedition by the colonial government for an article appearing therein; the conviction was later overturned on appeal. Returning to Nigeria in , he founded the West African Pilot and four other periodicals, which he used to agitate for independence from Britain. In he helped found the National Council

President of Nigeria from to

For other uses, see Nnamdi Azikiwe (disambiguation).

Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe (16 November – 11 May ), commonly referred to as Zik of Africa, was a Nigerian politician, statesman, and revolutionary leader who served as the 3rd and first black governor-general of Nigeria from to and the first president of Nigeria during the First Nigerian Republic (–). He is widely regarded as the father of Nigerian nationalism as well as one of the major driving forces behind the country's independence in

Born in Zungeru in present-day Niger State to Igbo parents from Onitsha, Anambra State, Azikiwe learned to speak Hausa which was the main indigenous language of the Northern Region. He was later sent to live with his aunt and grandmother in his hometown Onitsha, where he learnt the Igbo language. Living in Lagos State exposed him to learning the Yoruba language, and by the time he was in college, he had been exposed to different Nigerian cultures and spoke the three major Nigerian languages.

Azikiwe was well travelled. He moved to the United States where he was called Ben Azikiwe, and attended Storer College, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University. He contacted colonial authorities with a request to represent Nigeria at the Los Angeles Olympics since he was also an athlete. He returned to Africa in , where he started working as a journalist in the Gold Coast (present day Ghana). During the British West Africa, Azikiwe advocated as a political activist and journalist, for Nigerian and African nationalism.

Early life and education

Youth: education and background

Azikiwe was born on 16 November in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria. His first name, "Nnamdi", given to him by his parents is an Igbo name which literally means "my father is alive". His father, Obed-Edom Chukwuem

November 16,  to May 11,

In November Martin Luther King traveled to Lagos, then Nigeria’s capital city, to attend the inauguration of Nnamdi Azikiwe as Nigeria’s first governor-general of African descent. Azikiwe, who later became the first president of Nigeria and was a life-long advocate of African independence, personally invited King to take part in the official inauguration festivities in a letter dated 26 October

Azikiwe was born 16 November in northern Nigeria and attended mission schools in Lagos. In he left for the United States, where he studied political science, earning a BA () and MA () from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. While a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Azikiwe met Marcus Garvey and other leaders of the Back to Africa movement. In Azikiwe returned to Africa where he joined the Nigerian Youth Movement and founded the West African Pilot and several other periodicals that advocated independence from Britain. After more than a decade of working as a writer, Azikiwe was elected to the Nigerian Legislative Council in and began a career in government.

When King traveled to Nigeria in the liberation struggles there and in other African nations were having a profound impact on the American civil rights movement. Noting that Azikiwe and other African leaders were “popular heroes on most Negro college campuses,” King called the African liberation movement “the greatest single international influence on American Negro students,” offering the young people hope and guidance in their own struggle for freedom (King, “The Time for Freedom”). Azikiwe was elected the first president of Nigeria in , but was removed from office by a military coup in

Footnotes

King, “The Time for Freedom Has Come,” New York Times, 10 September