Nnamdi Azikiwe
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{{Infobox_President|name=Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe
|image=Azikiwe-Commander-in-Chief.JPG
|order=1st [[President of Nigeria]]
|term_start=[[October 1]], [[1963]]
|term_end=[[January 16]], [[1966]]
|predecessor=''None (position created)''
|successor=[[Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi]]
|order2=3rd [[List of Governors-General of Nigeria|Governor-General of Nigeria]]
|term_start2=[[November 16]], [[1960]]
|term_end2=[[October 1]], [[1963]]
|predecessor2=[[James Robertson]]
|successor2=''None (position abolished)''
|order3=1st [[President of the Nigerian Senate|President of the Senate of Nigeria]]
|term_start3=[[January 1]], [[1960]]
|term_end3=[[October 1]], [[1960]]
|predecessor3=None (position created)
|successor3=[[Dennis Osadebey]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1904|11|16|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Zungeru]], [[Nigeria]]
|dead=alive
|death_date={{death date and age|1996|5|11|1904|11|16|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Enugu]], [[Nigeria]]
|spouse=
|party=[[National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons]];<br /> [[Nigerian People's Party]]
|vicepresident=
|religion=[[Christianity]]<ref name=dawodu>{{cite web |url= http://www.dawodu.com/mamza16.htm|title=Odd Men For Odd Political Jobs: Its Time Up!|last=Mamza|first=Paul |accessdate=2007-05-03 |work= [[Dawodu]].com|publisher=[[Segun Toyin Dawodu]]}}</ref>
}}
'''Benjamin [[Nnamdi]] Azikiwe''' ([[November 16]], [[1904]] – [[May 11]], [[1996]]), usually referred to as '''Nnamdi Azikiwe''', or, informally and popularly, as "'''Zik'''", was the founder of modern [[Nigerian]] [[nationalism]] and the first [[President of Nigeria]], holding the position throughout the [[Nigerian First Republic]].
==Early life==
Azikiwe was born on [[November 16]], [[1904]] in [[Zungeru]], northern [[Nigeria]] to [[Igbo people|Igbo]] parents.<ref name=eb>{{cite web |url= http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011545/Nnamdi-Azikiwe|title= Nnamdi Azikiwe|accessdate=2007-05-03 |work= [[Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc]]}}
</ref> Nnamdi means "My father is alive" in the [[Igbo language]].<ref>{{cite book |title= A Handbook of African Names|last=Madubuike |first=Ihechukwu |year=1976 |page=219 |publisher=Three Continents Press |isbn= 0914478133}}</ref> After studying at the Methodist Boys' High School in Lagos,<ref name="Yearbook1962">{{cite book |title= Nigeria Year Book 1962 |publisher= [[Daily Times of Nigeria]] |year= 1962|pages= p.112}}</ref> Azikiwe went to the United States. While there he attended [[Howard University]], [[Washington DC]]<ref name=OnlineNigeria>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlinenigeria.com/people/ad.asp?blurb=66|title= Biography of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe|accessdate=2007-09-05 |work= [www.onlinenigeria.com]|}}
</ref> before enrolling in and graduating from [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]], [[Pennsylvania]] in 1930. He obtained a masters degree in 1933 from a prestigious [[Ivy League]] institution, the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref name=UPenn>{{cite web |url= http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/notables/political/pennheads.html|title= Alumni, Faculty, and Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Who Have Served as Heads of State or Government|accessdate=2007-09-05 |work= [[University of Pennsylvania]]|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania|University Archives and Records Center University of Pennsylvania]]}}</ref> He worked as an instructor at Lincoln before returning to Africa.
==Newspaper career==
After teaching at Lincoln, Azikiwe, in November 1934, took the position of editor for the ''[[African Morning Post]]'', a daily newspaper in [[Accra]], [[Ghana]]. In that position he promoted a pro-African [[nationalism|nationalist]] agenda. Smertin has described his writing there: "In his passionately denunciatory articles and public statements he censured the existing colonial order: the restrictions on the Africans' right to express their opinions, and racial discrimination. He also criticised those Africans who belonged to the 'elite' of colonial society and favoured retaining the existing order, as they regarded it as the basis of their well being."<ref>Yuri Smertin, ''Kwame Nkrumah'', Moscow, 1977, Progress. p 9.
</ref>
As a result of publishing an article on [[May 15]], [[1936]] entitled "Has the African A God?" written by [[Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson|I.T. A. Wallace-Johnson]] he was brought to trial on charges of sedition. Although he was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to six months in prison, he was acquitted on appeal. He returned to [[Lagos]], Nigeria, in 1937 and founded the ''West African Pilot'' which he used as a vehicle to foster Nigerian nationalism. He founded the Zik Group of Newspapers, publishing multiple newspapers in cities across the country.
==Political career==
After a successful journalism enterprise, Azikiwe entered into politics, co-founding the [[National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons]] (NCNC) alongside [[Herbert Macaulay]] in 1944. He became the secretary-general of the National Council in 1946, and was the following year elected to the Legislative Council of Nigeria. In 1951, he became the [[leader of the Opposition]] to the government of [[Obafemi Awolowo]] in the Western Region's House of Assembly. In 1952, he moved to the Eastern Region, and was elected to the position of Chief Minister, and in 1954 became [[Premier]] of Nigeria's [[Eastern Region, Nigeria|Eastern Region]]. On [[November 16]], [[1960]], he became the [[List of Governors-General of Nigeria|Governor General]] and on the same day became the first Nigerian named to the Queen's [[Privy Council]].<ref name="Yearbook1962">{{cite book |title= Nigeria Year Book 1962 |publisher= [[Daily Times of Nigeria]] |year= 1962|pages= pp.112}}</ref> With the proclamation of a republic in 1963, he became the first [[President of Nigeria]], while [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]] was the [[President of Nigeria#Prime Ministers of Nigeria (1960-1966)|Prime Minister]].
Azikiwe and his civilian colleagues were removed from power in the military coup of [[January 15]], [[1966]]. During the [[Biafra]]n (1967–1970) war of secession, Azikiwe became a spokesman for the nascent Igbo republic and an adviser to its leader [[Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu]]; in 1969, however, he switched to the side of the Nigerian government.<ref name=eb/> After the war, he served as Chancellor of [[Lagos University]] from 1972 to 1976. He joined the [[Nigerian People's Party]] in 1978, making unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 1979 and again in 1983. He left politics involuntarily after the military coup on [[December 31]], [[1983]]. He died on [[May 11]], [[1996]] at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, in [[Enugu]], [[Enugu State]], after a protracted sickness.
[[Image:Five hundred naira.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Portrait of Azikiwe on the 500 [[naira]] note]]
His time in politics spanned most of his adult life and he was referred to by admirers as "The Great Zik of Africa". His motto in politics was "talk I listen, you listen I talk".
The writings of Azikiwe spawned a philosophy of African liberation [[Zikism]], which identifies five concepts for Africa's movement towards freedom: spiritual balance, social regeneration, economic determination, mental emancipation, and political resurgence. [http://books.google.com/books?id=KMuid_nEIgUC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=zikism&source=web&ots=QJ5d1nI4DV&sig=-ReZjzR5rASB1ilAa5T_wfj6GtQ]
==Places named after Azikiwe==
Places named after Azikiwe include the [[Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport]] in [[Abuja]], [[the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium]] in [[Enugu]], and the [[Nnamdi Azikiwe University]] in [[Awka]], [[Anambra State]]. His portrait adorns Nigeria's five hundred [[Nigerian naira|naira]] currency note.
Several streets and university campus hostels are also named after him including Nnamdi Azikiwe street in Lagos, Zik Avenue in Enugu, Ziks Flat at University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Azikiwe Hall at University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
==Works==
*''Zik'' (1961)
*''My Odyssey: An Autobiography'' (1971) — ISBN 0900966262<ref name=eb/>
*''Renascent Africa'' (1973) — ISBN 071461744X
*''Liberia in World Politics'' (1931) — ISBN 0837137748
*''One hundred quotable quotes and poems of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe'' (1966) — ISBN 9782736090
==Notable quotes==
''"There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity"'' — from My Odyssey, No. 5
==Further reading==
* [[Zikism|Zikist philosophy]]
* Zik of New Africa (1961), by Vincent Ikeotuonye
* A Life of Azikiwe (1965), by K.A.B. Jones-Quartey
==Trivia==
*Nnamdi Azikiwe and [[Kwame Nkrumah]], first Presidents of [[Nigeria]] and [[Ghana]] respectively, were educated at the same tertiary institutions: [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] and the [[Ivy League]] [[University of Pennsylvania]].
* Both Azikiwe and Nkrumah were members of the [[Phi Beta Sigma]] Fraternity, Incorporated. [http://www.pbs1914.org/sigmatoday/notablesigmapoliticsandleadership.asp]
==References==
{{Wikiquote}}
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{{succession box | title=[[President of the Nigerian Senate|Senate President of Nigeria]] | before=Position created| after=[[Dennis Osadebey]] | years=1960–1960}}
{{succession box | title=[[List of Governors-General of Nigeria|Governor-General of Nigeria]] | before=[[James Robertson (Governor-General)|Sir James Robertson]] | after=Position abolished | years=1960–1963}}
{{succession box | title=[[List of Presidents of Nigeria|President of Nigeria]] | before=Position created | years=1963–1966 | after=[[Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi]]}}
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{{President Nigerian Senate}}
{{Nigerian Heads of State}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azikiwe, Nnamdi}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Governors and Governors-General of Nigeria]]
[[Category:Presidents of Nigeria]]
[[Category:Nigerian Christians]]
[[Category:Leaders ousted by a coup]]
[[Category:Igbo people]]
[[Category:Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni]]
[[Category:Howard University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:People from Niger State]]
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