In November 1896, James Robert Phillips, agent commissioner and delegate for the Niger Coast Protectorate, chosen to visit and meet with Ovonramwen in Benin City in respects to the exchange assentation that the Oba had made with the British but was not keeping. He formally inquired his bosses in London for consent to visit Benin…
The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as a young man with his wife and son, 1977. Yar’adua was born in the Nigerian state of Katsina. His father, Musa Yar’Adua, was Minister of Lagos during the First Republic and held the title of Chief of the Matawalle (Guardian of the Royal Treasury) of the Emirate of Katsina, a title Yar’Adua inherited. His paternal grandfather, Malam Umaru, also held the title of Matawallen Katsina, while his paternal grandmother, Binta, was a Fulani of the Sullubawa clan, Princess of the Emirate of Katsina and sister of Emir Muhammadu Dikko.
Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti smiles at Black Maria after he was arrested by the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Military Government for illegally attempting to export £1,600 in foreign currency abroad in the year 1984. Fela was arrested more than 200 times by various military regimes but remained imprisoned for a long time by Major General Buhari, who first came to power in a military coup in December 1983.The Afro beats legend was sentenced to five years in prison by a military court on what he always called trumped-up barter charges but was released in 1986…
Uyo Village Court. The Colonial District official presides over a case, assisted by an interpreter.
During the Nigerian Civil War, Soyinka called for a ceasefire in an article. For this purpose he was arrested in 1967, accused of conspiring with the Biafrans and held as a political prisoner for 22 months until 1969. In 1965, Soyinka was arrested after taking control of a radio station at gunpoint and broadcasting a message condemning electoral fraud in western Nigeria. His imprisonment sparked international protests and a year later he was acquitted on a technicality. In 1966, two military…
Calabar (also called Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Kalabari and Kalabar) is the capital of Cross River State in Nigeria. In the Efik language it was originally called Akwa Akpa. The city borders the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and the Cross River streams (from the inland delta). The tribes that inhabited part of the Guinean coast were known as Calabar when Portuguese explorers first came to the region in the 15th century and the local population were the Quas. The Efik people only left the Niger River region to settle on the banks of…
Nigerians in London sing and dance happily along Northumberland Avenue in London in celebration of the nation’s independence on October 1, 1960.
Pope Saint John Paul II first made a pilgrimage to Nigeria in 1982, the first stop of his tenth apostolic journey, during which he also visited Benin, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. His second pilgrimage took place here in Onitsha in eastern Nigeria in 1998 on the occasion of the beatification of Father Cyprian Tansi.
Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, also known as Olu Jacobs, and his wife Joke Silva act on stage at the National Theater Hall. Love is truly a beautiful thing 💜🤍
Ugochukwu Bomboy was born in Oshodi to Igbo parents from Eastern Nigeria. Bomboy has a brother named Austinero, who bears a striking resemblance to his brother Bomboy. His mother was a street vendor and always found a way to support her family. Previously, Oshodi, a foreigner, had done everything he could to avoid crossing the area, especially at night, for fear of being harassed, attacked, raped or robbed. Street children and hooligans take the law into their own hands, and since there is no traditional ruler in Oshodi, it is a place where every hooligan fights for recognition. Transporters, traders, dealers and markets are afraid of criminals.In the early 1990s, Ugochukwu Dum Obiora, a famous local boy known…
The photo shows young and brave Biafran soldiers trained in Enugu to protect their territory from the Nigerian Army in 1968.
Nigerians sit on the branches of a tree trying to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II as she attends Sunday mass at St. James Pro-Cathedral. in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Aikhomu was born on October 20,1939, in Irrua- Ishan, Edo State. He had his education at Irrua Government School and later Yaba College of Technology, 1954 -1958 Royal Britannia Naval College; Long Gunnery Specialist Course, India, and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, 1982. Ehime, first son of former Admiral Augustus Aikhomu was…
When Oluwashina Akanbi Peters met Clarion Chukwura in 1982, Sir Shina Peters, as he was popularly known, was already making waves in the Nigerian music industry. He was, as he called himself, the “founder and pioneer” of Afro-Juju music in Nigeria. By 1982, SSP had already released three albums three years in a row: Way to Freedom (1980), Freedom (Senwele) (1981) and Money Power (1982). However, Afro Juju’s path to fame was littered with pitfalls. As a boy, he rebelled against his parents, gave up his education and claimed he wanted to be a musician. His parents did not agree with his decision and gave…
Photo shows Civil Engineer and Oni of Ife Oba Adesoji ADEREMI wearing a crown and beaded robe as he inspects the design of the new Oni Palace. They lived in a small, old house and categorically refused to build a better building until the local administration completed and paid for the drinking water supply to the population.
A heavily armed riot police unit marches through a street in Lagos to disperse a crowd of demonstrators demanding a postponement of the December 1964 federal election. General elections were held in Nigeria on December 30, 1964, but in some constituencies in the Eastern, Lagos and West Central regions they were not held until March 18, 1965, due to the December boycott. During the elections, most parties operated in alliances, the Nigerian National Alliance (Northern People’s Congress, Nigerian National Democratic Party, West Central Democratic Front, Dynamic Party, Niger…
His Eminence Sheikh (Dr.) Muhammad Kamalud-deen Al-Adabiy, MFR, OFR, ORSA (Egypt). D.Litt. (University of Ilorin), Scholar of Islamic Studies in Nigeria (FISN), was born at the Ara Agbaji compound in Masingba, Okekere area of Ilorin at the turn of the 20th century (1905). His father was Mallam Habibullahi, son of Sheikh Musa, and his mother was Alhaja Khadijah. His paternal grandparents are said to have emigrated from Katsina. The young Muhammad Kamalud-deen grew up in a purely Islamic…
Bianca, in an interview some years ago when they celebrated their wedding anniversary, told General Ojukwu a short, fascinating story about their wedding cake and its preparations. Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu (then Bianca Onoh) was preparing for her wedding in November 1994. General Ojukwu’s wife celebrated her wedding anniversary by revealing that a pastry chef in Enugu refused to make her wedding cake. The cook thought Bianca was poor and lower class. A well-meaning friend recommended a qualified pastry…
Participants in a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, to protest against the killing of 21 striking Nigerian miners in Enugu by colonial police. The Enugu Coal Mine Massacre, also known as the Iva Valley Massacre, is a site in Enugu city, Enugu State, Nigeria. The name Ivy Valley comes from a valley in the region of the same name. The town is home to the Ivy Valley Coal Mine. Iva Valley is famous in Enugu for the events of November 18, 1949, when police killed 21 miners during protests. On November 18, 1949, 50 armed policemen led by the senior police commissioner F.S Phillips…
In 1986, three of the most famous Nigerian and African writers and poets, JP Clark, Chinua Achebe and Professor Wole Soyinka visited Dodan Barracks. Their aim was to appeal to General Ibrahim Babangida to pardon General Vatsa, also known as Mamman Jiya Vatsa. Despite their efforts, General Babangida went ahead and executed General Vatsa. It should be noted that General Vatsa and General Babangida were close friends, which made the circumstances of this execution even more embarrassing. The details of what happened between these two friends will soon be…