Bashorun Gaa: The “Wicked Prime Minister” of the Old Oyo Empire
It was impossible for Bashorun Gaa to become an Alaafin of the Oyo Empire as the Prime Minister bore no blood of Oranmiyan to claim the throne...
22 Interesting Facts About Abeokuta
Abeokuta was a sovereign nation for 20 years and 11 months before the British amalgamated her with the rest of Nigeria in 1914...
Adegoke Adelabu: The Unforgettable Peculiar Penkelemesi
Adegoke Adelabu is often mentioned in Yorùbá and Nigerian history as the author of "penkelemesi", a Yorubanisation of the phrase, "peculiar mess".
Kenneth Onwuka Dike (1917-1983): The Pioneer Historian
Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike was the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan and the roaming Ambassador of Biafra to Côte d'Ivoire...
Usman dan Fodio: Progenitor of the Sokoto Caliphate
Usman dan Fodio wrote more than a hundred books on religion, administration, culture, and community. He promoted literacy and education, particularly for women, and many of his daughters became scholars and authors. His works and sayings are still very much quoted today.
Idris Alooma, the Mai of Bornu
Idris Alooma was known by the Kanuri title of Mai for a king...
Kaduna Nzeogwu: Hero or Villain?
Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian to become an officer in Military Intelligence. Born on February 26, 1937, Nzeogwu was only 20 when he joined the Nigerian Army in March 1957.
Festus Okotie-Eboh: Nigeria’s most flamboyant Politician
As the Federal Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh was instrumental in the founding of Nigeria's Central Bank in 1959.
Samuel Ladoke Akintola: Orator, Warlord, Legend
Samuel Ladoke Akintola was responsible for the establishment of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) in 1962 and the creation of the Cocoa House in 1965, while still the premier of the Western Region. He was also active in the construction of the Premier Hotel and other monuments in the Western Region.
Margaret Ekpo: A Defender of Women’s Rights
The Margaret Ekpo International Airport is the only airport in Africa to be named after a woman...
How Alhassan Dantata became West Africa’s Richest Man in the ’50s
When the British Bank of West Africa (now First Bank of Nigeria) was opened in Kano in 1929, Dantata became the first Kano businessman to operate a bank account when he deposited twenty camel loads of silver coins.
Ken Saro-Wiwa: Writer, Environmental Activist, Martyr
It took five attempts to hang Ken Saro-Wiwa before he spoke his last words and his body went limp.
Dora Akunyili: The Woman with many Awards
Did you know that Dora Akunyili was a recipient of many awards? During her lifetime, she received 820 awards. In 2016, two years after her death, her husband discovered 110 more awards packed safely in her boxes, bringing the total to 930. No other Nigerian has won more.
Shettima Kashim Ibrahim: The Last Civilian Governor of Northern Nigeria
Kashim Ibrahim was the first and last indigenous civilian governor of the Northern Region of Nigeria until the military coup of January 15, 1966.
Was Joseph Gomwalk guilty of the 1976 Dimka Coup?
Joseph Gomwalk was a Ngas from Ampang or Pang, present-day Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: The Golden Voice of Africa
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912- January 15, 1966) was Nigeria's first Prime Minister. He was popularly known as "The Golden Voice of Africa".
Emeka Ojukwu: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Emeka Ojukwu could speak Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, English, French, and Latin fluently. Interestingly, during the civil war, he always slept with his boots on.
25 Interesting Facts about Cross River State
Cross River State is the leading tourism state in Nigeria. Especially the capital, Calabar. Visitors from different parts of Nigeria come to the city in large numbers all year round.
Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti: Teacher, Nation-Builder, Clergyman
Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti holds the record of the longest-serving president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (23 years) and the principal of Abeokuta Grammar School (22 years).
Alvan Ikoku: 10 Interesting Facts about the Man on the 10 Naira Note
Alvan Ikoku and his son, Samuel Goomsu Ikoku (1922–1997), were political enemies. Samuel won an election against his father at the Eastern Regional Assembly elections on March 15, 1957.
Josiah Ransome-Kuti: The Singing Minister of Abeokuta
Josiah Ransome-Kuti was also the first Nigerian to release a record album after he recorded many hymns (in the Yoruba language) in gramophone through Zonophone Records, London in 1925.
Samuel Adegboyega: Pioneer of Apostolic Pentecostalism in Nigeria
Samuel Adegboyega was named Gbadebo after Oba Gbadebo I, the sixth Alake of Egbaland, Abeokuta, as he was from a royal house himself.
Gambo Sawaba: Married at 13, Politician at 17, Imprisoned at 20
"If I don’t know book, I know rights... I have not been a member of any House of Assembly. I have not held any office except that I was a member of the House of Prison. – Hajaratu Gambo Sawaba (1933–2001)...
Mallam Aminu Kano: Once Upon a Radical
Professor Chinua Achebe wrote in 1983 that “Nigeria cannot be the same again because Aminu Kano once lived here.”
