Zikists, in particular, were ahead of their time in espousing national interests over ethnic interests. Even today, Nigeria has yet to catch up with the vision the Zikists had in 1946.
Contrary to popular opinion, Nigeria’s independence was not handed down on a platter of gold. Groups of young people put their lives on the line to make unconventional choices, like four young men who took a vow on 16 February 1946 that they would never get married until Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom. It was an audacious declaration, perhaps foolish or immature in the minds of some, but that bold promise reflected the mood of the times: tense, dynamic, quivering with expectation.
By the 1950s, across Nigeria, young people had been consuming the lofty rhetoric of communists like I. T. A. Wallace Johnson, and George Padmore; pan-Africanists like W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Ladipo Solanke; and anti-colonialists like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The youth rallied with gusto and purpose, filled with ambitious ideas about how to build a glorious nation outside the controlling arms of the British Empire.
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