EMINENT LEADERS
Nnamdi ‘Benjamin’ Azikwe
Popularly known as Zik
Born: 16th November , 1904
Died: 11th May, 1996
Landmarks:
1954 – 1959: Premier, Eastern Region on Nigeria; 1st January, 1960 – 1st October, 1960: First Senate President, Nigeria; 16th November, 1960 – 1st October, 1963: 3rd Governor General, Nigeria; 1st October, 1963 – 16th January, 1966, First President Nigeria; 1972-1975: Chancellor, Lagos University (now University of Lagos);
Quote: Originality is the essence of true scholarship. Creativity is the soul of the true scholar.
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William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
Popularly known as W.E.B Du Bois
Born: 23rd February, 1868- 27th August, 1963
Died: 27th August, 1963
Landmarks:
1895: First Black Man to receive PhD from Harvard University; 1910: Leader, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); 1959; won the USSR International Lenin Peace Prize; 1961: Joined Communist Party at age 93;
Quote: The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.
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Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti
Popularly known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Born: 15th October, 1938
Died: 2nd August, 1997)
Landmarks:
Pioneer of Afro-Beat Music; Human Right Activist; Political Maverick; Founder, Egypt ’80 Band.
Most Popular Albums: Coffin for Head of State (1978), Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense (1987), and Underground System (1993).
Quote: Suffering and smiling.
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Martin Luther King Jr
Born: 15th January, 1929
Died: 4th April, 1968
Landmarks:
1964: Nobel Peace Prize; 1977: Presidential Medal of Freedom (Post Humous); 2004: Congressional Gold Medal (Post Humous); Human Right Activist; 1954, Pastor, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Executive Committee Member, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; December, 1955, Leader of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, leading the bus boycott that lasted 382 days.
Quote: I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
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Jomo Kenyatta
Born Kamau wa Ngengi
Born: 1894
Died: 22nd August, 1978
Landmarks:
Kenya’s founding father; 1st, June 1963 – 12th December, 1964: Prime Minister, Kenya; 12th December, 1964 – 22nd August,1978: first President of Kenya
Quote: Many people may think that, now there is Uhuru, now I can see the sun of Freedom shinning, richness will pour down like manna from Heaven. I tell you there will be nothing from Heaven. We must all work hard, with our hands, to save ourselves from poverty, ignorance, and disease.
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Kwame Nkrumah
Born Kamau wa Ngengi
Born: September 21, 1909
Died: 22nd August, 1978
Landmarks:
1945: organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress, held in Manchester; 1947: General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC); 1949: Split from UGCC on the grounds that it was working too slowly to form Convention People’s Party (CPP); 1957: First Prime Minister of Ghana at independence; 1963: Participated in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity; 1964 Became increasingly dictatorial after surviving two assassination attempts. Formed a one-party state and named himself Life President.; 1966 removed from power by military forces while traveling in Asia, and lived the remainder of his life in exile
Quote: Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.
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Nelson Mandela
Popularly known as Madiba
Born: 18th July , 1918
Alive
Landmarks:
1944: Help establish the African National Congress, Youth League; 1951: President African National Congress, Youth League; 1952: First black to open a law practice in South Africa along with his friend Oliver Tambo; 1964: Sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island and released in 1990; 10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999: President of South Africa; 1993: Won Nobel Peace Prize.
Quote: For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.