AZIKIWE, NNAMDI

born Nov. 16, 1904, Zungeru, Nigeria died May 11, 1996, Lagos president of Nigeria (196366) and perhaps the figure who best typified Igbo (Ibo) nationalism. Azikiwe gained much of his early education and experience in the United States (192534). In 1934 he went to the Gold Coast (now Ghana), where he worked as a newspaper editor before returning to Nigeria in 1937. There he founded a chain of newspapers and also became directly involved in politics, first with the Nigerian Youth Movement and later (1944) as a founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). In 1948, with the backing of the NCNC, he was elected to the Nigerian Legislative Council. After 1951 the NCNC became increasingly identified with the Igbo people of southern Nigeria. After the election of 1953 he became chief minister and later premier of the Eastern Region. Azikiwe led the NCNC into the important 1959 federal elections, which preceded Nigerian independence. He was able to form a temporary government with the powerful Northern Peoples Congress, but its leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, took the key post of prime minister. Azikiwe received the largely honorary posts of president of the Senate, then governor-general, and finally president. In the Biafran Civil War (196770) Azikiwe first backed his fellow Igbo, traveling extensively in 1968 to win recognition of Biafra and help from other African countries. In 1969, however, realizing the hopelessness of the war, he threw his support to the federal government. Thereafter, he was one of the leaders opposing the ruling party and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1979 as a candidate of a newly formed Nigerian People's Party.