Category: People
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Yemi Adesokan; Nigerian scientist who developed an innovative form of diagnosis which could let doctors quickly and easily pinpoint features of a patient’s infection. The method can, for example, help determine if infection is resistant to certain antibiotics, and prescribe the most effective treatment using DNA. This has been particularly used to successfully treat drug-resistant…
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Azikiwe Nnamdi; First Nigerian governor- general and later ceremonial president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Before this, Zik became the Premier of the Eastern Region in 1954. His party, the National Council Nigeria and the Cameroons, NCNC dominated the politics of Eastern Nigeria, winning for the Region internal self-rule in 1956. Zik was at…
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Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi; First military Head of State of Nigeria. General Aguiyi-Ironsi was described in Major Ademola Ademoyega, a revolutionary Yoruba officer and one of the key actors in the famed “Igbo coup” later, in his memoirs, Why We Struck, as a reactionary who mobilised his men to abort the January 1966 revolution in…
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Murtala Muhammed; Head of the short-lived military government whose face adorn the twenty naira note. Muhammed became Nigerian Head of State on July 29, 1975 following the overthrow of General Yakubu Gowon, who had ruled the country for nine years. A civil war hero, Muhammed was assassinated on February 13, 1975 on his way to…
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Sani Abacha; Nigerian Head of State from November 1993 to June 1998. Abacha was the first officer of the Nigerian Army to rise to the rank of General without skipping any rank. He was also the first to become a full four-star general before becoming Head of state. Abacha who was Babangida‘s de facto number…
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Yakwubu Gowon; War time Head of State of Nigeria, who reigned for nine years from 1966. Gowon became Nigeria’s youngest head of state ever at the age of 32 years. When civil war threatened the very foundation of the country between 1967 and 1970, he in a mature manner kept Nigeria together after which he…
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Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida; Army General who ruled Nigeria as military president from 1985 to 1993. As a key member of the group that overthrew Shagari’s government in 1983, Babangida was rewarded with an appointment as head of the army. That post helped him establish a network of officers that ultimately helped him unsit Muhammadu Buhari…
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Chris Oyakhilome; Television evangelist and charismatic pastor of Believers Love World. Oyakhilome hails from Ewu in Edo State. His father, Joseph Oyakhilome who became late in 2009 was an elder in the Assemblies of God Church in Benin. Chris, born December 7, 1963 was brought up in a strict Christian home and he became a…
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James Johnson Oluleye; General in the Nigerian army, who served During the Nigerian civil war, he was general staff officer 1, Nigerian Army Headquarters, from 1967-1970 and previously with the United Nations troops in the Belgian Congo, 1961-62. Oluleye was General Officer Commanding, GOC. 2 Infantry Division, Nigerian Army 1970-75; federal commissioner for establishment, 1975-…
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Shamsudeen Amain; Nigerian Professor of Theatre, and Drama touted as the Shakespeare of Northern Drama being the first from his region. Amain is a bilingual playwright and dramatist, using the Idoma and English Languages. He is also a university administrator, rising from different ranks till his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin. Amain graduated from…