Remembering Sage called Nnamdi Azikiwe

It was the 16^th November 1988 my siblings and I were being driven to school by my dad, the journey from Ikotun an outskirts of Lagos to Ikeja the capital of Lagos where my primary school was situated seems like an eternity because of the usual traffic grid lock that besiege the ever busy Lagos- Abeokuta motor way by motorist and pedestrians who are rushing to work.

On getting to a bus stop known as Ile-Zik along the Lagos-Abeokuta express way, in my dreams, I heard my dad voice saying Wake up son. Do you know who once lived here daddy was pointing. I was becoming tired of this daily ritualistic question from father. Obediently I answered, that’s the house of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe Nigerian first head of state.  A morning sermon of this great sage was always being conducted by my dad on our way to school in the vehicle incidentally my dad is a Zikist.

Looking outside the car that morning, front pages of the dailies were filled with congrulatory messages and picture of this great son of Africa Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was an epitome of knowledge.

Who is Dr.Nnamdi Azikiwe?

Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle-Osowa-Anya Onitsha was one of the leading figures of Nigerian nationalism. He was born on November 16, 1904 to Igbo parents in Zungeru present day Niger state of Nigeria The first language this young man learnt was Hausa, until the time of his death he always said that he had a spiritual attachment to the Northern part of Nigeria.

At the age of eight, he was sent to Onitsha to live with his paternal grandparents where he became very fluent in Igbo language and was taught the Igbo culture.

 In later years Zik described the euphoria he felt when he was told that he was going to the land of King Dosumu to live with his paternal aunty the excitement was boundless that the three day voyage from the River Niger to Lagos seemed like an eternity. In those days, one could only travel by sea to Lagos because there was no connecting road from the east of the Niger to the west, in Lagos he made plenty of friends that lasted him a life time. His speaking and writing of Yoruba Language was so terrific.

Among the three founding fathers of Nigeria Independence Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Zik was the only one who had followers across board from the three regions of Nigeria (as it then was) and could speak the three major Nigerian Language fluently.

His formal education started at Onitsha where he excelled in academic and sports. He attended the Wesleyan Boys’ High school in Lagos and the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, CrossRiver State of Nigeria. The young Zik read what so ever his hands could touch, he was influenced by the works of Marcus Gavery and Web DuBious.

In 1925, he moved to the United State of America in pursuit of higher education he backed degree in law, political science and certificate in journalism. He later earned an M.A in political science from Lincoln and an MSc in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1934, Zik returned to Africa, passing up an offer to pursue a doctorate.

Arriving  Ghana in 1934, Nnamdi Azikiwe meet ITA  Wallace-Johnson, a trade unionist and newspaperman from Sierra Leone who offered him a job as editor of the Morning  Post He held this job until 1936 when he was tried for sedition after publishing an article by Wallace-Johnson entitled “Has the African a God?” Even though he was found guilty of the charges and condemned to six months in penitentiary, he was at the end of the day acquitted on appeal.

He returned home in 1937 and started the West African Pilot newspaper which he used as a means of promoting Nigerian nationalism. He went on to found the Zik Group of Newspapers and set up many newspapers in cities across the country.

Azikiwe committed his adult life to politics and was referred to by his followers as "the Great Zik of Africa." Azikiwe became active in the Nigeria Youth Movement (NYM), the first genuinely nationalist organisation in Nigeria. However, he soon resigned from the NYM in protest at alleged discrimination against Ijebu members, taking all of the Igbo and most of the Ijebu members with him.

He co-founded the Nigeria Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) with Herbert Macaulay in 1944. He became the secretary-general of the NCNC in 1946 and was elected to the Legislative Council of Nigeria the following year. In 1951, he became the leader of the opposition in the Western Region's House of Assembly after NCNC members of the house cross-carpeted to the Action- Group (AG).

 In 1952, Azikiwe moved to the Eastern Region and was elected to the position of Chief Minister there, eventually becoming premier of the region in 1954. In 1955, he passed the legislation that led to the founding of the University of Nigeria, Nsuka in 1960. Azikiwe, was a member of the Nigerian delegation at the 1957 constitutional talks held in London which eventually led to the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

 Following the independence in 1960, the elated Zik was quoted as saying   “ My stiffest earthly assignment has ended and my major life’s work is done my country is now free  and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?”

An NPC-NCNC coalition won the national election and Balewa became the federal prime minister. Bello and Awolowo remained in office as premiers of the North and Western regions respectively while Azikiwe accepted the position of Governor-General. Leadership of the Eastern Region went to Michael Okpara, Azikiwe's long-time friend and colleague within the NCNC. When Nigeria was proclaimed a republic in 1963, Azikiwe became its first president.

The military coup of January 15, 1966 led to Azikiwe and his civilian colleagues being thrown out of power. During the Nigerian civil war, Azikiwe became a spokesman for Biafra and an adviser to its leader, Chukuemeka Ojukwu.

After the war, he was Chancellor of the University of Lagos from 1972 to 1976. He joined the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) in 1978, making unsuccessful bids on its platform for the presidency in 1979 and 1983. He left politics after a military coup on December 31, 1983.

Azikiwe was a prolific writer. His work outlined his philosophy of African liberation ('Zikism') which identified five concepts for Africa's movement towards freedom: spiritual balance, social regeneration, economic determination, mental emancipation and political resurgence. His numerous published works include Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943); Zik (1961); My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1971), Renascent Africa (1973); Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival (1965); The Future of Pan-Africanism (1961); Origins of the Nigerian Civil War (1969); (1974); Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis (1974); Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974); Themes in African Social and Political Thought (1978); Restoration of Nigerian Democracy (1978); Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism? (1980); and History Will Vindicate the Just (1983).

He also carved a niche for himself in the professional world by running several newspapers and other companies. He is also the only individual whose name has appeared in a democratic constitution (Nigeria's 1963 Republican Constitution, an amendment of the 1960 Independent Constitution submitted by Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa). 

Azikiwe is widely acknowledged as one of the key people who promoted Nigerian nationalism and called for the establishment of a federation of smaller states which he believed would prevent ethnic rivalry.

Azikiwe died on May 11, 1996 after a long illness.

I will forever remember him for these quotes that was and still is my guiding principles.

 “If you find yourself at the valley of a hill make sure you are the best shrub existing, whenever you find yourself at the peak of the mountain be the best tree there”

“There is plenty of room at the top because very few care to travel beyond the average route and so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity”.  

Sources : My Odessy 
               ZODML.Org
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