These are Africa’s seven independence leaders who were intellectuals in their own rights

Nnamdi Azikiwe

Nigeria’s first ceremonial leader, Azikiwe was a journalist who joined the freedom struggle in the late 1950s. As a man of letters, he produced over 15 books on history, politics and political philosophy.

He was also instrumental in theorising what it meant to be a Nigerian. This was a result of his own experiences in the Nigerian civil war.

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