How Azikwe helped steered Nigeria away from disintegration at independence – Mu’azu

By Angela Atabo

Former Niger Governor, Dr Mu’azu Aliyu, has explained how late nationalist Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe pragmatic decisions helped steer Nigeria away from potential disintegration in the early years of Nigeria’s independence that were fraught with existential tensions.

Mu’azu said this at the Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s sixth Annual Award Lecture 2025 (121-Posthumous Birthday Celebration) on Sunday.

Speaking at the event themed “The Power of Pan-African unity, Strengthening Nigeria’s Role in African Integration and development” in Abuja, Mu’azu said Zik made significant political compromises to ensure the survival and unity of the nation.

Mu’azu, who was the Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the lecture, said Zik was a Nigerian even before Nigeria gained its independence.

He noted that the first Nigerian president was in the forefront of the independence of Nigeria and as a realist and compromised to ensure the survival of the nation.

“If you recall, before the coup of 1966, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe entered a relationship between his party and NPC and became a ceremonial president. And indeed, during the second republic, again, his party and NPN came to ensure that Nigeria remains one.

“Therefore, anybody who, for whatever reason, is in love, regardless of your suffering, we must love our country.

“If we were to choose where to be born, probably many people may not want to be born in Nigeria. But since it was not a choice, your creator chose that you should be born here. It is only natural that you should be proud and love your country.”

According to Aliyu, in all the religious dictum, it is part of the principles that loving one’s country is very important; and this, Azikiwe has taught Nigerians.

The Keynote Speaker, Dr Mainasara Umar-Kogo, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), called for moral rebirth and Pan-African unity.

Umar-Kogo argued that in spite of the groundwork laid by founding giants such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, and others, the continent remained shackled by failures of leadership, corruption, and disunity.

He lamented that the ideals of the 20th-century liberation struggle have been betrayed in practice.

“Let us be honest with ourselves. What kind of house have we built after Zik? A house divided by ethnic strife cannot endure. A house corroded by corruption cannot inspire.

“A house without justice cannot lead. If Nigeria is to serve as a cornerstone of Africa, then our house must first be in order. A divided Nigeria cannot unify Africa.

“A corrupt Nigeria cannot inspire Africa. A lawless Nigeria cannot lead Africa and that is the reason why Africa is in comatose. Unity is a moral compass.”

Umar-Kogo explained that unity cannot be built on injustice adding that Pan-Africanism which Zik stood for was not only an economic project but a political project that Nigerians should continue to eliminate.

He emphasised Nigeria’s urgent need for principled leadership rooted in integrity, courage, justice and service.

He warned that leaders obsessed with wealth and power have replaced those who once saw leadership as a sacred trust to be accounted for “before God and history.”

Chief Chineme Onyeke, the Director-General of the annual award, said the lecture was organised out of a noble conviction that nations should not merely remember their heroes, but renew and sustain the dreams they inspired.

Onyeke said this year’s lecture theme was timely to position Nigeria to lead the rise of African continent in solidarity.

He said that beyond the lecture, the group hoped to establish the Zik Centre for Leadership and African Studies, a citadel of learning and research designed to inspire new generations of Nigerians and Africa to lead with wisdom, courage and companion.

“We therefore appeal to the Federal Government, through the Minister of Nyesom Wike to graciously support this vision by allocating land for this national legacy project.

“As we reflect on the legacy of Zik, let us be reminded that history does not remember us by the titles we bear or the speeches we delver ,but by the values we upheld and the institutions we build.”

Prof. Uche, the widow of Azikiwe, commended the organisers for the initiative.

She called for the need to write the history of Nigeria and the contributions of statesmen like Zik into a book so that young ones would learn history.

“This is because most of our problem is that we do not know what happened in the past. We do non know the history.

“Even as the wife of Nnamdi Azikiwe, I did not know most of the things said about Zik here and the history of Nigeria.

“If we know the history, and the foundation of this country, Nigeria would have been something else.”

(NAN)