BLAST FROM THE PAST(Alhaji Tafawa Balewa) - Exclusive from Oladimeji Balogun(GCoOS) Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, KBE (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) was a Nigerian politician, and the only prime minister of an independent Nigeria. Originally a trained teacher, he became a vocal leader for Northern interests as one of the few educated Nigerians of his time. He was also an international statesman, widely respected across the African continent as one of the leaders who encouraged the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Nicknamed the Golden Voice of Africa because of his oratory, he stands as one of only three National Heroes of the Nigerian Nation. EARLY LIFE AND CAREER: Abubakar Balewa was born late in 1912 in Bauchi, the son of a Bageri Muslim district head in the Bauchi divisional district of Lere. He started early education at the Koranic School in Bauchi and like most of his contemporaries, he studied at the Katsina College for further education and soon acquired his teaching certificate. He returned to Bauchi to teach at the Bauchi Middle School. In 1944, along with a few learned teachers from the north, he was chosen to study abroad for a year at the University of Londons Institute of Education. Upon returning to Nigeria, he became an Inspector of Schools for the colonial administration and later entered politics. He was elected in 1946, to the colonys Northern House of Assembly, and to the Legislative Assembly in 1947. As a legislator, he was a vocal advocate of the rights of northern Nigeria, and together with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of Sardauna of Sokoto, he founded the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). My Dad told me his car broke down in my village Fiditi in Oyo State and wanted to call SL Akintola to send a car over to pick him but unfortunately then, my village did not have a telephone line. So he simply waited till his car was fixed and ate pounded yam at the garage with passers by. He eventually instructed a telephone exchange be brought to Fiditi my village as soon as his car was fixed - Babatunde Adeyi Oladele It was reported that Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa went on his only annual leave as Prime Minister of Nigeria in 1963 and decided to spend the vacation in his village. A British photo journalist came calling and was told the PM was on vacation. To which country? he asked, but was shocked to hear it was to his village. On getting to his village, there was no evidence to show that a BIG MAN was there. Everybody was busy with their chores. He met a farmer with his donkey carrying bales of sugarcane for the PMs home and he was shocked when the farmer said I just left him a while ago. You will see him sitting on bare floor with his kids drinking the sugarcane I gave them. He met them like that and took this photograph. What an epitome of SIMPLICITY and HUMILITY! The true Founding fathers of Great Nigeria.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 07:16:34 +0000
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