Nigeria At Independence, Remembering Our Past Heroes

Written By Nehemiah Anini, FRCN Headquarters

A life is most fulfilled not when it is born but when it finds its purpose, and when the purpose is useful to human existence.

This aphorism by Mark Twain perhaps can best describe the essence and lives of Nigerians who lived a purposeful life and contributed in no small measure to the socio-economic and political accomplishments of the nation. But it is painful when the efforts of these titans are forgotten or not acknowledged.

Though, Nigerians have rolled out the drums to celebrate another Independence anniversary, many individuals who fought for the freedom of this nation, with their blood on the altar of nationhood and togetherness seems to be forgotten after much struggle.

As a nation where Unity, Peace and Justice should visible, this anomaly must be corrected.

For the nation to consolidate her democracy and national development, the 2023 independence anniversary should go beyond the tradition of rehearsed celebrations, speeches and starchy rendition, to a more committed and concerted efforts to remember the achievements and good deeds of the nation’s former leaders.

Just recently, the nation lost a gem, the man that designed the Nigerian flag in 1958, Mr. Taiwo Michael Akinkunmi.

Mr. Akinkunmi, popularly called The flag man was said to have died in abject poverty at his private home in Ibadan.

Another gem who seems to have been forgotten among many others in Nigerian history was the first President of the Nigeria Red Chamber, the Senate, Dr Akwaeke Abyssinia Nwafor Orizu.

Dr Orizu was an international literary icon, an Administrator, Teacher and politician of repute, who died at the age of 85.

He championed the founding of the African students Association in the United States and Canada from 1940-1942.

In 1942, Dr. Orizu visited Lord Halifax the then British Ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C to discuss for the first-time a scholarship programme for Africans.

The burning desire to get Africans educated in America started turning to reality in 1944 when the American Council on African Education was incorporated under the membership Corporation Law of the state of New York, United States, a development that generated numerous tuition scholarships from American sources for the benefit of African students, all to the credit of this noble man, Orizu.

According to Nigeria political history, Dr Orizu underwent the longest political prison and incarceration in the history of Nigerian freedom fighters which was from 1953 to 1957.

After joining the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), He played a central role in helping Dr. Zik to become Premier of the Eastern Region, using his influence in the NCNC to persuade Professor Eyo Ita to resign as premier of the Region. In 1964, Dr. Orizu was unanimously elected as the first President of the Senate in the First Republic and later re- elected for a second term.

In October 1965, Dr. Orizu was sworn in as the Acting President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Adetokunbo Ademola.

When there was tension after the military coup, Dr. Orizu made a nationwide broadcast, after briefing Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on the phone on the decision of the cabinet, and announced the cabinet’s decision to transfer power to the Armed Forces.

This is one of the memories that many Nigerians especially the younger generation are not aware of but it is a known fact that, Dr. Orizu’s contemporaries like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Herbert Macauley, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Western Region, and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola among others have all been remembered across board.

Some were named after monumental edifices, Stadia, Major streets, Academic institutions or had their pictures inscribed in the nation’s currency while some had their children integrated into the country’s politics, all with the intension to preserve their names.

As Nigeria marks another independence anniversary, notable figures and other past Nigerian leaders must be remembered so that “the labour of our heroes’ past shall not be in vain.