Nnamdi Azikiwe
Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (November 16, 1904 - 1996) was Nigeria's first president. He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1930, returned to Africa to enter politics, and in 1953 became leader of Nigeria's Eastern Region. On the granting of Nigeria's independence in 1960 he gained the office of governor-general, and with the proclamation of a republic in 1963 he became president. He was removed in the military coup of 1966.
During the Biafran war of secession, Azikiwe became a spokesman for the nascent republic and an adviser to its leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. After the war, he served as Chancellor of Lagos University from 1972 to 1976. He founded the Nigerian People's Party in 1979 and made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency then and in 1983. He left politics in 1986.
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Referenced By
Father of Nation | Father of the Nation | Lincoln University | List of Governors-General of Nigeria | List of Presidents of Nigeria | List of people on stamps of Nigeria | UPenn | University of Pennsylvania
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