Biographies & Cultural Icons of Nigeria
Life stories of Nigerian political leaders, monarchs, activists, writers, artists, and other influential historical figures.
Hassan Usman Katsina, Nigerian Army Chief and Northern Governor in a Time of War
Major General Hassan Usman Katsina, later titled Ciroman Katsina, was one of the most influential Nigerian Army officers of the first post independence generation....
The Rise of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria, and spent her formative years in Nsukka, a university town in southeastern Nigeria. She...
Chief Amodu Tijani Oluwa and the Lagos Land Case That Reached the Privy Council
Chief Amodu Tijani Oluwa, an Idejo White Cap Chief of Lagos and head of the Oluwa family, entered history through a legal struggle that...
Onigu Otite and the Study of Ethnicity in Nigeria
Onigu Otite, born Kingsley John Onigu Otite on 21 January 1939 and who died on 14 March 2019, was a Nigerian sociologist whose work...
From Slave Ship to City Hall, The Rise of John Ezzidio in Nineteenth Century Freetown
John Ezzidio was born around 1810 in Nupe country, in the region of present day Nigeria. His early life unfolded in a period marked...
Olu Onagoruwa at the Oputa Panel, Abacha’s condolence letter, The murder allegation that still echoes
Nigeria’s history is marked by moments when private grief collided with public power. Few of those moments remain as unresolved and unsettling as the...
How Lemi Ghariokwu Turned Fela Kuti’s Music Into a Visual Revolution
Lagos in the early 1970s was restless and loud, filled with musicians, journalists, political thinkers, and artists searching for new ways to speak openly....
What Happened at Kalakuta Republic, The 1977 Military Raid That Changed Fela Kuti’s Life
In the early hours of 18 February 1977, soldiers descended on Kalakuta Republic, the communal compound built and led by Fela Anikulapo Kuti in...
Tony Allen Finally Tells His Side, The Afrobeat Architect Steps Out of Fela’s Shadow
Tony Allen’s Tony Allen: An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat unfolds as a direct, unvarnished account of a life shaped by rhythm,...
How Afrobeat Outlived Fela Kuti and Became One of Nigeria’s Greatest Cultural Exports
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti is often remembered as a symbol, a rebel with a saxophone, a musician who confronted power with sound. But Afrobeat did...