Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, born Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas (October 25, 1900
– 13 April 1978) was a Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women’s rights
activist. Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, Ransome-Kuti was the first female student to attend the
Abeokuta Grammar School. As a young adult, she worked as a teacher, organizing some of the
first pre-school classes in the country and arranging literacy classes for low-income women.

In 1932, Ransome-Kuti helped establish the Abeokuta Ladies Club. The club focused on charity
work, sewing, catering and adult education classes, and its early members were mostly
Christian, Western-educated women from the middle class. By the 1940s, however, the club
moved in more political direction. Inspired by an illiterate friend who asked her for help learning
how to read, Ransome-Kuti began organizing literacy workshops for market women through the
club, and she subsequently gained a greater understanding of social and political inequalities
faced by many Nigerian women. In 1944, she developed a successful campaign to stop local
authorities seizing rice from market women under false pretenses

• Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari

Without being a military personnel, the late Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari served in
government of Nigeria, uninterrupted, between 1954 and 1975, then 1979 and 1983, when he
was the country’s first executive president. The only time he was not in government was the six
months of Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was Head of State,
January 15, 1966 to July 29, 1966.

He briefly worked as a teacher before entering politics in 1951; and was elected into the House
of Representatives in 1954. At various times, between 1958 through independence of Nigeria in
1960 and 1975, he held a cabinet post as federal minister.

In 1954, Shehu Shagari was elected into his first public office as a member of the federal House
of Representative for Sokoto west. He was at different times, parliamentary secretary (1958 to
1959) to the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and that year, he also
served as the Federal Minister for Commerce and Industries.

Later, he served as the pioneer Federal Minister for Economic Development, Minister for
Pensions and the Federal Minister for Internal Affairs and from 1965 up until the first military
coup in January 1966, Shagari was the Federal Minister for Works and in 1967, he was
appointed as the secretary for Sokoto Province Education Development Fund. From 1968–
1969, Shagari was given a state position in the North Western State as Commissioner for
Establishments.

• Shehu Musa Yar’Adua

Outsiders seem to think that Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, de facto second-in-command as Chief of
Staff, Supreme Headquarters from 1976 to 1979, was very fortunate in both the military and
political circle because of his elite background.
This widespread impression is far from the truth. He was a gentleman and an officer. He wa
respected for his tact and discipline. He was very calculative.

Born on March 5, 1943, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was given the responsibility for the capture of
Onitsha after two unsuccessful attempts by the Nigerian troops, which he did conveniently.

An astute and calculative politician, his political structure covered the country. He had a national
campaign directorate, and each state had its own campaign coordinator and ward mobilisers.
Members of his campaign group included former PDP chairman Anthony Anenih, former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, former minister Dapo Sarumi, Bola Tinubu, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila
and Sunday Afolabi.

He provided, Chief M.K.O. Abiola the platform, which gave him victory in Jos, Plateau State.

• Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola GCFR

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, also known as M. K. O. Abiola, was a Nigerian
businessman, publisher and politician. He was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland.

Abiola ran for the presidency in 1993, for which the election results were annulled by the military
president, Ibrahim Babangida.

Abiola was awarded the GCFR posthumously on June 6, 2018 by President Muhammadu
Buhari and Nigeria’s democracy day was changed to June 12.

From 1972, until his death, Abiola had been conferred with 197 traditional titles by 68 different
communities in Nigeria, in response to his having provided financial assistance in the
construction of 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water
projects in 24 states of Nigeria, and he was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in
Nigeria.

• Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR

General Adulsalami Alhaji Abubakar was born on June 13, 1942.

Abubakar was a member of the pioneering sets of officer cadets who enlisted into the Nigerian
Air force on October 3, 1963. From 1964 to 1966, he was flown to Uetersen, West Germany
with a team of officer cadets, for Basic and Advance Military Training. When he returned to
Nigeria in 1966 he was seconded to the Nigeria Army.

Although efforts were made to ensure that the elections were free and fair, there were
widespread irregularities that drew criticism from foreign observers.
Surprising some critics of the country’s military, In May 1999 General Abubakar, handed over
power to the newly elected civilian president, Olusegun Obasanjo and retired from the army.

Abubakar helped in the Liberian peace movement by presiding over the 2003 peace talks
between Charles Taylor and the opposing rebels.

He currently heads the National Peace Committee, which has ensured that the recent elections
in the country have not exploded.

• Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR

If you thought Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will become an old fixture in Nigeria’s political
calculation after he lost the 2015 Presidential Election, you would be wrong.

Since 2015, when he lost the presidential election, marking the first time in the history of Nigeria
that an incumbent president lost re-election and conceded defeat, his fame has grown larger
than the small confinement that many were won’t to ascribe to him.

Up to the point that he conceded defeat to Buhari, Jonathan was considered a neophyte, who
did not have clout but just added up to the number. He defied all nay saying to become one of
the greatest statesmen that have traversed the Fourth Republic.

Born on November 20, 1957, in Ogbia, Bayelsa State to a Christian family of canoe makers,
from the Ijaw minority ethnic group. He received a bachelor degree in zoology (second-class
honours), a master’s degree in hydrobiology and fisheries biology; and a doctorate in zoology
from the University of Port Harcourt.

Before his entry into politics in 1998, he worked as an education inspector, a lecturer and an
environmental-protection officer.
Jonathan was instrumental in negotiating an agreement with many of the major militant groups
in the Niger Delta, to lay down their weapons and stop fighting as part of a government
amnesty.

On February 9, 2010, following a controversial doctrine of necessity from the Nigerian Senate,
Goodluck Jonathan was named acting President due to President Yar’Adua’s trip to Saudi
Arabia in November 2009 for medical treatment.

In accordance with the order of succession in the Nigerian constitution following President
Umaru Yar’Adua’s death on 5 May 2010, acting President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as
the substantive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 6 May 2010.

• Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams

Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade (FRA) Williams, QC, SAN (16 December 1920 – 26 March 2005)
was a foremost lawyer, nationalist and statesman. He was the first lawyer to adorn the silk as
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). His unflinching dedication to the rule of law for over six
decades manifested in Williams’ clear emergence as the foremost legal icon, a primus inter
pares at the Nigerian Bar.

Throughout his practice years, he was graceful in his fine grasp of legal intricacies, erudition of
the law and dexterity of submissions. He was as complete in substantive law as he was in court
processes and rules. He was also endowed with his distinctive courage that made him speak
out on sensitive national issues, both as an individual and chairman of The Patriots, a non-
political, non-governmental organisation he co-founded.

• Chief Akintola Williams

Chief Akintola Williams (born August 9, 1919), a living legend at 101, is revered for his high
level of professionalism and his record of achievements and legacies, which have made him the
‘Father of the Accountancy profession’ in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.

He was the first African to qualify as a chartered accountant. He began his education at
Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole Street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, in the early
1930s, the same school his late younger brother, Chief FRA Williams attended. In 1965,
Williams became one of the founding members and the first President of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) – a leading Institute in Africa today. Also, as a catalyst
of economic development and agent of positive change, Williams championed the
establishment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 1960, a market that he is actively
involved in till date as an adviser to the operators.

• Major-Gen. Johnson Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi

Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, MBE (3 March 1924 – 29 July 1966)
was Nigeria’s first Military Head of State. He seized power amidst the ensuing chaos following
the January 15, 1966 coup, which decapitated the country’s leadership.

He ruled from January 16, 1966 until his assassination on July 29, 1966 by a group of mutinous
officers, who were led by Major Theophilus Danjuma, in a revolt against his government in what
was popularly called the July Counter Coup. He spent 194 days in office, the shortest of any
military Head of State and is one of the five heads of government who died in office. The other
four were Tafawa-Balewa, Murtala Mohammed, Sani Abacha and Umar Yar’Adua.

Vice Admiral Joseph Edet Akinwale Wey

Vice Admiral Joseph Edet Akinwale Wey (March 6, 1918 – December 12, 1991) was the first
Nigerian Chief of Naval Staff. The former Nigerian national soccer team left back joined the
Marine Department in 1939, as a Trainee Junior Technical Assistant. When the Navy was
established in 1956, he crossed over to the Navy in 1957 and was commissioned in 1958.
A Vice Admiral of the Nigerian Navy, he served at various times as head of the Nigerian Navy
(Chief of Naval Staff), acting Foreign Minister, and Chief of Staff of the Supreme Headquarters,
making him the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during Yakubu Gowon’s regime.

• Chief Louis Orok Edet

Chief Louis Orok Edet (1914–1979) was the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force from
1964–1966 and the first Nigerian to occupy the position. He was briefly the chairman of the
Nigerian Football Association in the early 1960s.

On retirement after the 1966 coup, he was appointed Recruitment Attaché in the Nigerian High
Commission in London, 1966-1968. After the civil war, he returned to Nigeria and was made
Commissioner for Home Affairs and Information in the then South-Eastern State, 1968-72.

• Major-Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed

Major-General Abdullahi Mohammed was the pioneer Director General of the National Security
Organisation from 1976 to 1979, created under Decree Number 27 of 1976 by the military
regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo after the failed Dimka coup, which claimed the life of
Murtala Mohammed. The NSO was given a mandate of coordinating internal security, foreign
intelligence and counterintelligence activities.

He also served as Chief of Staff to Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
from 1999 to 2008; National Security Adviser to Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar from 1998 to 1999;
and Governor of Benue & Plateau State, from July 1975 to February 1976 during the military
regime of Gen. Murtala Mohammed.

• Prof. Thomas Adeoye Lambo

Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo, OBE (March 29, 1923 – March 13, 2004) was a Nigerian
scholar, administrator and psychiatrist. He is credited as the first western-trained psychiatrist in
Africa. Between 1971 and 1988, he worked at the World Health Organization, becoming the
agency’s Deputy Director General. In 1954, after studying and working as a surgeon in Britain,
Lambo returned to Nigeria where he was soon made the specialist in charge at the newly built
Aro Psychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta.

• Prof. Kenneth Dike

Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike (17 December 1917 – 26 October 1983) was an historian and
the first indigenous Vice-Chancellor of the premier college, the University of Ibadan. He was a
trailblazer in defense of African culture and historical studies. His African-centered orientation
contributed to the development of historical consciousness of Africa, and the popularization of
the use of oral sources and material culture in African historical method. He played a critical role
in the rise of modern African historiography.

• Captain Chinyere Kalu

Captain Chinyere Kalu, MFR, is the first Nigerian female commercial pilot and the first woman to
fly an aircraft in Nigeria. She served as the Rector and Chief Instructor of the Nigerian College
of Aviation Technology between October 2011 and February 2014. She is a member of the
Nigerian Women Achievers Hall of Fame and also a member of the Order of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, which was conferred on her in 2006.

• Lieutenant Wellington Bassey

Lieutenant Wellington Duke Bassey was the first commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army. His
number was NA1 and WA1. He is an Efik from Cross River State (now Akwa Ibom) who joined
the army in 1936. He was commissioned Lieutenant on April 30, 1949.

• Prof. Grace Alele-Williams

Professor Grace Alele-Williams (born December 16, 1932) is an educator who made history in
1985 when she became the first female Vice-Chancellor of an African university at the
University of Benin. She was also the first Nigerian woman to receive a doctorate degree. She is
a professor of mathematics education, an area of academia women sparsely delve into.

• Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu

Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu, OBE (1909– September 1966) was a business tycoon,
founder of Ojukwu Transport, Ojukwu Stores and Ojukwu Textiles. At his peak, he was the first
and founding president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as president of the African
Continental Bank. He was considered the wealthiest person in Nigeria at the time, was Nigeria’s
first recorded millionaire and father of the leader of defunct Biafran Republic, Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

• Alhassan Dantata
Alhassan Dantata (1877 – 17 August 1955) was a trader in kolanuts and groundnuts, as well as
a distributor of European goods. He supplied large British trading companies with raw materials
and also had business interests in the Gold Coast. At the time of his death he was the
wealthiest man in West Africa. He is the great grandfather of Africa’s richest man today, Aliko
Dangote.

• Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola (1902-1995), OBE, CFR, CON, was a prominent businessman
from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. He was one of the pioneers of modern Nigerian indigenous
entrepreneurship and the first president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. He created
a multimillion-dollar conglomerate, including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a
5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before the end of British colonial
rule in 1960.

• Samuel Manuwa
Samuel Layinka Ayodeji Manuwa was a pioneering Nigerian surgeon, Inspector General of
Medical Services and former Chief Medical Adviser to the Federal Government of Nigeria. He
was the first Nigerian to pass the FRCS and he obtained the postgraduate Doctor of Medicine
degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1934. In 1966, he was elected president of the World
Federation for Mental Health.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Medicine in 1926. He graduated with several
awards, winning every prize available in the medical school, including the Robert Wilson
Memorial Prize in Chemistry and the Welcome Prize in Medicine. He later went to study in
Liverpool, and completed a course on Tropical Medicine. He became a medical doctor in 1926.

He returned to Nigeria in 1927 after finishing his studies on tropical medicine and joined the
colonial medical services as a medical officer. He subsequently became a surgeon specialist
and senior specialist in the service, where he gained acclaim as a skilled surgeon. Though he
received various offers for administrative positions early on, he continued his surgical work for
more than 18 years. While practising as a surgeon, he invented an excision knife to treat
tropical ulcers.

• Taslim Olawale Elias

Taslim Olawale Elias was a Nigerian jurist. He was Attorney-General and Chief Justice of
Nigeria and a judge and President of the International Court of Justice.
Elias was born into the traditional aristocracy of Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria, on November
11, 1914. He received his secondary education at the Church Missionary Society Grammar
School and Igbobi College in Lagos.

In 1960, Elias was invited to become Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. He
served in this capacity through the whole of the first republic. Although later dismissed after the
coup d’état in January 1966, he was reinstated in November of that year.

In October 1975, he was elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the
United Nations to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. In 1979, he was elected Vice-
President by his colleagues on that Court. In 1981, after the death of Sir Humphrey Waldock,
the President of the Court, he took over as Acting President. In 1982, the members of the Court
elected him President of the Court. He thus became the first African jurist to hold that honour.
Five years later, Elias was also appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

• Emeka Anyaoku
Chief Eleazar Chukwuemeka (Emeka) Anyaoku was born on January 18, 1933, in Obosi,
Nigeria. Not only is he a chief through lineage, but also through his exceptional leadership skills.
His career in leadership spans many decades and institutions, both national and internationally.
The promotion of democracy on the African continent has always been his primary focus and an
area of concern. His precociousness in leadership showed when he joined the Commonwealth
Development Corporation at the tender age of 26, in 1959.
His exceptional contribution to the struggle for freedom, justice and democracy in South Africa
and on the African continent and for persistent efforts to promote the attainment of democracy
and good governance on the African continent.

In 1989, Chief Anyaoku was elected the third Commonwealth Secretary General. He proved an
indispensable leader in matters of national, continental and international political leadership and
was re-elected at the 1993 Limassol Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting for a
second five-year term.

Chief Anyaoku’s strength in leadership can be seen in his active involvement in issues such as
the Gibraltar referendum of 1967, the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970, the St Kitts-Nevis-
Anguilla constitutional crisis of 1969 to 1970, the problems following Commonwealth Games’
boycotts during the 1980s and the process leading to peace and democracy in Zimbabwe,
Namibia and, in particular, South Africa. Chief Anyaoku was also closely involved in the
establishment of a joint office in New York for small Commonwealth countries that are thus
enabled to be represented at the UN.

• Chioma Ajunwa-Opara
When Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, also known as Chioma Ajunwa, was suspened from athletics, in
1992, for failing a dope test, it seemed her world had ended. Her ambition? Crashed, too?

But four years later, she made a great comeback.

Following the completion of her suspension, Ajunwa went on to become the first West-African
woman, as well as the first Nigerian, to win an Olympic gold medal in a track and field event
when she emerged victorious in the women’s long jump event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
with a jump length of 7.12 meters (on her first attempt) during the final.

The ‘flying police woman’ is the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a
field event. She is the first and only woman to compete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup as a
footballer as well as the Olympic games doing track and field.

Born December 25, 1970, into what she describes as ‘a very poor home’, the Ahiazu-Mbaise-
native Ajunwa is the last of nine children, with six brothers and two sisters. Her father died while
she was still young, leaving his wife to solely support a large family.

• Stephen Okechukwu Keshi

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, popularly called ‘Skippo’, until death, was a strong influence in
Nigerian football. For the over 50 years he spent on earth, he bestrode the football pitch like a
collosus.
From his primary school days at Saint Paul’s Catholic Nursery and Primary School, Apapa
Road, Lagos State, and later, at Saint Finbarrs’ College, Akoka, Lagos, he showed leadership
qualities.

Born on January 23, 1962, in Azare, Bauchi State, he hailed from Illah, Oshimili North Council,
Delta State.

During his playing career, Keshi earned 60 caps for the Nigeria national team, making him the
nation’s second-most capped player at the time of his retirement. He represented the country at
the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, captaining the Super Eagles to
victory in the latter.

Aside from opening the floodgates for many Nigerian footballers to go professional, as a
manager, Keshi achieved success by qualifying Togo for the only FIFA World Cup appearance
in its history in 2006. However, he left the position prior to the tournament and was replaced by
Otto Pfister. He later coached his native Nigeria, where he became one of only two people,
along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player
and a coach.

Keshi set a record in African football by being the first African coach to qualify two African
nations (Nigeria and Togo) for the World Cup Finals in 2005 and in 2013. He also helped
Nigeria become the first country to achieve an African Cup of Nations trophy and World Cup
qualification, both in 2013.

• Nwankwo Kanu
Nwankwo Kanu remains the only Nigeria who was named African Footballer of the Year twice.

He is the most decorated Nigerian footballer, and with George Finidi, won the UEFA Champions
League in 1994.

Kanu participated in the 1998, 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups. On June 24, 2010, he ended
his international career following Nigeria’s exit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He won
86 caps and scored 13 goals for his country and was the joint most capped Nigerian player of
all-time alongside Muda Lawal, until Joseph Yobo surpassed both players in 2012, winning his
87th cap.

• Richard ‘Dick Tiger’ Ihetu

Richard Ihetu, known widely as Dick Tiger, was born on August 14, 1929, in Amaigbo, Orlu, Imo
State. The Nigerian professional boxer was world middleweight (160 pounds) and light
heavyweight (175 pounds) champion during the 1960s.
In 1959, Tiger began boxing in the United States, and on October 23, 1962, he won the World
Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title with a 15-round decision (a fight whose outcome is
determined by judges’ scoring) over American Gene Fullmer.

Tiger also won a 15-round decision for the world light heavyweight title over Puerto Rican, José
Torres, making him the first Nigerian to be world champion in two different weight categories.
Tiger was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

• Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey

Born Okon Asuquo Bassey on the banks of the Cross River, Creek Town, Calabar, Nigeria, and
became naturalised British when he moved to the UK, where he spent most of his life in
Liverpool. He took the name ‘Kid’ Bassey when he turned professional as a boxer. He was
managed by and trained by George Biddles and Jimmy August.

Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey was the first man of Nigerian descent to become a world boxing champion.

After winning the Empire featherweight championship, he won the world crown by defeating
French Algerian Cherif Hamia in Paris in 1957. He lost the title to US fighter Davey Moore on
March 18, 1959.

In 1959, he was awarded the MBE following his world title win and went on to become a coach
in Nigeria, which awarded him the country’s highest honour in 1973.

• Michael Okpala
Michael Okpala, also known as ‘Power Mike’, was a household name in the world of wrestling
as a retired undefeated World Heavyweight wrestling champion

Power Mike was born on August 8, 1939 to Echeobi and Janet Okpala at Neni, in Anaocha
Council of Anambra State.

It was at this primary school that he started building his athletic career by being active in
sporting events. He was so interested in boxing that he became an amateur boxer.

He joined the Dick Tiger Boxing Club as a middle weight amateur boxer. It was here that Dick
Ihetu Tiger became his role model.

He started a superman show business, which made him popular locally. Showmanship took him
around the world in the mid-1950s. His act included such feats as using his bare hands to bend
a six-inch nail, lifting four heavy men with ease, engaging several men in a game of tug-of-war,
using bare hands to break a coconut and so on.
However, he later became an acclaimed wrestler and one of the best that Greece could boast of
at the time. He wrestled with and defeated Ali Baba of Lebanon in 1973. Johnny Kwango also
became a victim of Power Mike’s when he (Mike) defeated him in Lagos. Among the list of
wrestlers that Power Mike defeated were Power Jack, Joseph Kovacs, Judd Harris, John Tiger
of Canada and a host of other notable worldwide superstars.

Apart from his pro wrestling prowess, he was also a promoter of the sport and his Power Mike
International Promotions brought foreign wrestlers like Mil Mascaras, Dick the ‘Bulldog Brower’,
Buddy Rose, Michael Hayes, Mighty Igor, The Mongols, Carlos Colon, Chris Adams,
Thunderbolt Williams and so on to the shores of Nigeria. He retired from active wrestling in 1976
and then focused on international promotions.

• Prof. Wole Soyinka

Some African writers see Prof. Wole Soyinka as Nigeria’s equivalent of the English playwright,
William Shakespeare. Born on July 13, 1934, in Abeokuta, in the present day Ogun State, as
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka.

Winning the Nobel Laurel in 1986 marked the apogee of Soyinka’s accomplishments as an
essayist, playwright and poet. As the first African to win the prized Nobel award, Soyinka has
within the past half a century employed his craft as a social critic to influence and affect
leadership and governance in Nigeria and Africa.
• Prof. Chinua Achebe
Born as Chinualumogu Albert Achebe (November 16, 1930 –March 21, 2013), the professor of
Language and Literature devoted a greater part of his 83 years on earth advocating for the
arrest of the growing cluttering of African literature and leadership through western cultural
influences.

Well known for his masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, Achebe used his literray prowess to call
global attention to social issues arising from clash of cultures in the African continent.

Apart from the iconic Things Fall Apart that has been translated into many world languages,
Achebe’s other notable works include, No Longer At Ease, Arrow of God, Man of the People
and Anthills of Savannah.

• Prof. John Pepper Clark

Popularly known as J.P. Clark, John Pepper Clark-Bekeredemo is Nigeria’s leading poet. He
was born on April 6, 1935 to an Ijaw father and Urhobo mother. J.P.

Clark served as a professor of English at the University of Lagos, after a stint as a research
fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
The accomplished playwright and dramatist, his work, Song of a Goat, stands out as evidence
of his authority as one of Africa’s pre-eminent and distinguished authors. His America, Their
America came out as an outstanding critique of American society and values.
• Fela Anikulapo Kuti
ALTHOUGH he was just 22 years when Nigeria got her independence from Britain, changed his
name from Olufela Ransome Kuti to Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a signal to the life of protest against
cultural imperialism and colonial overhang.
A multi-talented musician, Fela pioneered the Afrobeat genre, which was made possible by the
fact of his multi-instrumental expertise through which he fused traditional Yoruba music into funk
and jazz.

With his Egypt80 band, Fela was a torn in the flesh of dictatorial regimes and corrupt leaders,
particularly his Beast of No Nation and Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense albums. He stood
out as a composer, political activist and Pan-Africanist through his unique Afrobeat music genre.

• Dr. Ladi Kwali Dosei

Born to Gbagy parents, Ladi Kwali distinguished herself as a ceramicist, glassworker and potter
through her creative ingenuity in introducing art into the pot making vocation of her native Kwali
village of gwari sub-ethnic group in Nigeria.

She made large pots for use as water jars, cooking pots, bowls, and flasks from coils of clay,
inscribing various decorative murals on them.
As a mark of recognition of her exploits and contributions to positive expression of the female
gender, she was awarded a Doctorate and a Member of the British Empire as well as having her
picture adorn Nigeria’s N20 note.

• Ben Enwonwu
Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu was born on July 14, 1917. He became one of the
pioneers of African art and emerged also as one the first African artists to win international
applause.

A product of University of London, Enweonu inherited his father’s tools as a sculptor and went
ahead to perfect the art of carving in line with Igbo indigenous sculpture.

Enweonwu’s portrait of the Ife Princess, Tutu, which he painted in 1973, was sold in auction for
1, 205, 000 pounds. Tutu was adopted as Nigeria’s national icon and conveyed as a symbol of
reconciliation after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.

Before his death on February 5, 1994, Enweonwu was awarded Nigeria National Order of Merit
for his contributions to art in the country.

• Honourable Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar GCON

SIX years after Nigeria’s independence, Maryam Aloma Mukhtar was called to the English Bar.
She shattered the iron ceiling for the womenfolk as far as the legal profession was involved by
emerging as the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria after a long train of male jurists beginning
from Sir Darnley Alexander.
Born on November 20, 1944, Justice Mukhtar was also the first female lawyer from Northern
Nigeria, first female judge of High Court in Kano State Judiciary and the first female justice of
the court of Appeal of Nigeria.

• Chief Gani Fawhehinmi

Noted for his legal activism and pursuit of human rights, Chief Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola
Fawhehinmi bestrode Nigeria’s socio-political firmament like a colossus.

In his socio-political exploits using the instrumentality of the law, Gani was fond of taking cases
involving indigent members of the society on pro-bono basis, a development that earned him
the accolade of Senior Advocate of the Masses at a time he was being denied elevation to the
prestigious Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) status on account of his non conformist approach
to litigating against the powers that be.

• Stella Ameyo Adadevoh

History has a way of bringing people to limelight. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh is one of such people
that grabbed what history thrust on her. Though the daughter of Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh,
former Vice chancellor of the University of Lagos and great-grand daughter of Herbert Heelas
Samuel Macaulay, she was not known until she correctly diagnosed Liberian Patrick Sawyer as
Nigeria’s first case of Ebola at First Consultant Hospital in Lagos, in July 2014.

Dr. Adadevoh kept Patrick Sawyer in the hospital despite his insistence that he simply had a
bad case of malaria. Sawyer wanted to attend a business conference in Calabar, Nigeria.
Adadevoh led the team that oversaw Sawyer’s treatment.

Dr. Adadevoh also kept Patrick Sawyer at the hospital despite receiving a request from the
Liberian ambassador to release him. She tried to create an isolation area, despite the lack of
protective equipment, by raising a wooden barricade outside Patrick Sawyer’s door.

Her heroic effort saved the nation from widespread infection. At the time of these events,
Nigerian doctors were on strike, which could have led to severe crises.

The professionalism and thorough medical examination carried out by Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh
was impeccable. Adadevoh also provided staff with relevant information about the virus,
procured protective gear and quickly contacted relevant officials.

As a result of her report, the Nigerian government declared a national public health emergency
and the Nigerian Ministry of Health set up an Ebola Emergency Operations Centre.

• Chukwuemeka ‘Dim’ Odumegwu-Ojukwu

Even in death, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu remains a subject of discussion in

Nigeria for his fight against injustice. Aside from being leader of the breakaway Republic of
Biafra from 1967 to 1970, Emeka, who was born on November 4, 1933 at Zungeru, Niger State,
was active as a politician from 1983 to 2011, when he died.

In 1944, he was involved in a controversy leading to his brief imprisonment for assaulting a
British teacher who put down a student strike action that he was a part of at King’s College,
Lagos.

He joined the civil service in Eastern Nigeria as an Administrative Officer at Udi, in present-day
Enugu State. In 1957, after two years of working with the colonial civil service and seeking to
break away from his father’s influence over his civil service career, he left and joined the military
initially enlisting as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in Zaria.

Ojukwu’s decision to enlist as an NCO was forced by his father’s (Sir Louis) pulling of political
strings with the then Governor-General of Nigeria (John Macpherson) to prevent Emeka from
getting an officer-cadetship.

Sir Louis and Governor-General Macpherson believed Emeka would not stick to the grueling
NCO schedule, however, Emeka persevered. After an incident in which Ojukwu corrected a drill
sergeant’s mispronunciation of the safety catch of the Lee-Enfield .303 rifle, the British Depot
Commander recommended Emeka for an officer’s commission.

From Zaria, Emeka proceeded first, to the Royal West African Frontier Force Training School in
Teshie, Ghana and next, to Eaton Hall where he received his commission in March 1958 as a
2nd Lieutenant.

He was one of the first and few university graduates to receive an army commission. He later
attended Infantry School in Warminster, the Small Arms School in Hythe. Upon completion of
further military training, he was assigned to the Army’s Fifth Battalion in Kaduna.

• General Yakubu Gowon GCFR

HE holds the singular record of serving, not only as Nigeria’s military head of state at the tender
age of 29, but also at a time of great socio-political upheaval.
General Gowon’s name was turned into an acronym-Go On With One Nigeria- to highlight the
need for Nigeria’s unity after the 30-month fratricidal civil war.

• General Murtala Ramat Mohammed GCFR

General Murtala Mohammed took the state creation approach to further from the 12 states
created by Gowon to 19, in a bid to stabilize the country. Murtala radically changed the tempo of
governance, by waging war against official graft, inflation of contracts and poor approach to
public service.

• General Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo GCFR

From being the unwilling successor to the Murtala regime, General Obasanjo made history as
the first military junta to organize a timely return of political power to the civilians.
The Obasanjo military regime has to its credit, the 1979 constitution, which was the product of
the 1978 constituent assembly, as well as the change of governance from parliamentary to
presidential system. He repeated the feat again in 2007 when he conducted the first civilian to
civilian transition with his handover to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

• General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida GCFR

General Ibrahim Babangida’s place in the history of Nigeria’s socio-political progression is
chequered. Under Babangida, for the first time, Nigeria had a military president, conveying the
idea of a diarchy.

From the structural adjustment Programme, through the creation of effective public works
agency, Department for Food Roads and Rural Infrastructure, the IBB administration affected
the economic liberalization of the country. The convoluted transition to civil rule programme that
culminated in the annulment of the 1993 presidential election dimmed the luster of the
administration.

• Chief Ernest Shonekan GCFR

AS a boardroom mogul, Chief Shonekan’s National Interim Government became a child of
circumstance, when public outrage and discontent over the annulment of the 1993 presidential
election forced Babangida to step aside for the country to move forward.

Shonekan was not allowed to bring his wealth of experience garnered at the top echelon of the
management of United African Company (UAC) to bear on the leadership of the interim
government.

General Sani Abacha GCFR

Despite dismantling the quasi-democratic structures build around the interim administration of
Shonekan, of which he was a member, General Sani Abacha prepared to perpetuate himself in
office as military head of state by transmuting to a civil president.

However, Abacha, a member of the military club that held Nigeria together, delivered for the
country a prodigious mass housing programme at Gwarimpa with the Federal Capital Territory..

• Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR

His was about the most clement civilian administration in the nation’s fourth republic. As the first
university-educated Nigerian leader, Yar’Adua sought reform the electoral process and deepen
the country’s democracy through unbending adherence to the rule of law.

Born on August 1951, nine years before Nigeria’s independence, Yar’Adua was born into a
political family because his father was a minister of Lagos in the first republic. He died on May 5,
2010, three years into his term as Nigeria’s president.

• General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma GCON, fss

Popularly known as T.Y. Danjuma, the Takum-born soldier and politician was part of Nigeria’s
contingent on the United Nations’ peacekeeping force to Katanga, Congo, three years after
Nigeria’s independence.

Danjuma was involved at several epochs of Nigeria’s socio-political development and served as
Defence minister in the fourth republic under President Olusegun Obasanjo. He retired from the
military into a flourishing business career in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry

• Muhammadu Buhari
The return of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, former Head of State as president in 2015
marked the first time in the nation’s history there would be a change of government from a
political party to its bitterest rival. The president returned to power 30 years after a military coup
masterminded by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), his then Chief of Army Staff, sacked him as the
military head of state. He has also equaled national statesman, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s
enviable record of leading Africa’s most populous country twice.

Buhari has also made history as the first opposition candidate in the nation’s political history to
dislodge an incumbent president from power after three attempts.