Back in the day, when history was still taught in Africa, the name Zik, was a household name among primary and secondary school children. Many young Africans may have thought that Africa belonged to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, popularly known as The Great Zik of Africa. May be, this accounts for the reason why whole neighbourhoods in some African countries are named after him. In Tanzania, there is both Azikiwe Street and Azikiwe Avenue. Whereas most African countries have only streets named after other Pan-Africanists, Azikiwe, the renowned Pan-Africanist, has a whole part of town named after him in Dar es Salaam.
Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, a Nigerian of Igbo descent was born on November 16, 1904, in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria. His father, Obed-Edom Chukwuemeka Azikiwe was a clerk of the British Administration and had to travel extensively as demanded by the job. His mother, Rachel Chinwe Ogbenyeanu Azikiwe, who was sometimes called Nwanonaku, was the daughter of Aghadiuno Ajie.
Azikiwe, who later became the first president of independent Nigeria, attended various primary and secondary mission schools in Onitsha, Calabar and Lagos because of the itinerary nature of his father’s job. He ended up attending the following schools: Holy Trinity School, Christ Church School, CMS Central School, Hope Waddell Training College, Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos. The connections and encounters he had in this country-wide tour of his primary and secondary education would turn out to be very beneficial to him in future.
So, one might say that both nature and nurture were favorable to him on his journey to assuming leadership positions in his country. Providence granted him a Pan-Nigerian childhood experience that made it possible for him to speak the three major languages in Nigeria, (Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba) and these experiences must have shaped his nationalistic outlook.
Zik arrived the United States in 1925, where he attended several schools and earned multiple certificates and degrees from schools such as Storer College, a two-year preparatory school in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Howard University in Washington D.C. In 1930, he enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in religion and a second master’s degree from same school in anthropology. In 1934, he became a graduate-student instructor in the history and political science departments at Lincoln University. While in the US, he was a columnist for the Baltimore Afro-American, Philadelphia Tribune and the Associated Negro Press.
On his return to Nigeria in 1934, he got employed by a businessman, Alfred Ocansey in Gold Coast (now Ghana) and became the founding editor of a nationalist new daily newspaper, the African Morning Post. While in the Gold Coast, he became mentor to Kwame Nkrumah (who would later become the first president of Ghana).
When Azikiwe returned to Nigeria in 1937, he founded and edited newspapers and also became directly involved in politics. He set up the Nigerian Youth Movement, the country’s first nationalistic organization. Later, he co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), with Herbert Macaulay. He served as NCNC secretary in 1946. In 1948, he was elected to the Nigerian Legislative Council and later served as the Premier of the Eastern region from 1954 – 1959.
Zik led the NCNC into the important 1959 federal elections, which preceded Nigeria’s independence. He formed a temporary government with the powerful Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the deputy leader of NPC took the key post of Prime Minister while Azikiwe received the largely honorary posts of President of the Senate, Governor-General, and, finally, President.
During the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967 – 1970), Zik initially backed his fellow Igbo. In 1968, he travelled extensively, trying to win recognition for Biafra and help from other African countries. He withdrew his support for Biafra in 1969 on a disagreement on strategy and approach to minimize the casualty of the war on Ndigbo. His commitment to the welfare of Ndigbo even to his personal loss, was never to be questioned.
With the return of civilian rule in 1979, Azikiwe ran unsuccessfully on two occasions for president of Nigeria under Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) in 1979 and in 1983.
Zik was an important and influential figure in the history of Nigeria but had broad interests outside that realm. In 1960, he established the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Queen Elizabeth II appointed him to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He served as the chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1961 – 1966. After the war, he served as Chancellor of the University of Lagos from 1972 – 1976. Azikiwe was inducted into the Agbalanze society of Onitsha as Nnanyelugo in 1946, a recognition given to Onitsha men with significant accomplishment. In 1962, he became a second-rank red cap chieftain (Ndichie Okwa) as the Oziziani Obi. And in 1972, he was installed as the Owelle-Osowa-Anya of Onitsha, making him a first-rank hereditary red cap nobleman (Ndichie Ume). In 1980, he was made the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), Nigeria’s highest national honour.
Zik was president of several sports organizations for football, boxing and table tennis. Among his writings are: Renascent Africa (1937) and an autobiography, My Odyssey (1970).
Chief Dr. Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, the driving force behind Nigeria’s independence and the father of Nigerian Nationalism, died on May 11, 1996 at the age of 91.
The Centre for Memories and Ndigbo fondly remember and celebrate the Great Zik of Africa, a great and illustrious Igbo son.
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