EMINENT LEADERS

Nnamdi ‘Benjamin’ Azikwe

Popularly known as Zik

Born: 16^th November , 1904

Died: 11^th May, 1996

Landmarks:

1954 – 1959: Premier, Eastern Region on Nigeria; 1^st January, 1960 – 1^st October, 1960: First Senate President, Nigeria; 16^th November, 1960 – 1^st October, 1963: 3^rd Governor General, Nigeria; 1^st October, 1963 – 16^th 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: 23^rd February, 1868- 27^th August, 1963

Died: 27^th 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: 15^th 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: 22^nd August, 1978

Landmarks:

Kenya’s founding father; 1^st,  June 1963 – 12th December, 1964: Prime Minister, Kenya; 12th December, 1964 – 22^nd 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: 22^nd 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: 18^th 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.

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