Recommended reading by The Republic‘s editors, on Nigeria’s independence and wider political history.
Editors Picks: Independence Day
Young, Gifted and Radical The Figures Behind the Zikist Movement
Zikists 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. Read more. Read More...
Elizabeth Adekogbe and the Women’s Movement of Nigeria How Elizabeth Adekogbe’s Nationalism Promoted Women
Elizabeth Adekogbe was a nationalist, journalist, teacher, and women’s rights activist, who was the founder and leader of the Women’s Movement of Nigeria. Read more. Read More...
Nationalist: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti The Radically Progressive Twentieth-Century Leader
Often understated today as the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti's achievements were exceptional, multi-faceted and far-reaching. Read more. Read More...
Who Was Tanimowo Ogunlesi?
Tanimowo Ogunlesi was a women’s rights activist, teacher, and founding member of the women’s section of Obafemi Awolowo’s, Action Group (AG). Read more. Read More...
From Well-Worn Fatigues to Well-Tailored Suits Joseph Garba’s ‘Diplomatic Soldiering’
In ‘Diplomatic Soldiering’, the late General Joseph Garba, one of Nigeria’s earliest foreign ministers, presents a case for the tacit but present ‘Big Brother’ role that Nigeria has sought to play across Africa. Read more. Read More...
Who Was Ojukwu? The Many Perceptions of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
Before he died in 2011, leader of the Biafran secessionist movement, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had assumed four personalities: he was a hero, a villain, a rebel, and even a ‘one-Nigerianist’. Read more. Read More...
Egba Women Unite! Lessons from the Egba Women’s Anti-Colonial Movement
For much of history, Egba market women have been erroneously (re)presented as ‘barbaric’ and ‘disorganized’. Such women, however, were indelible forces of anti-colonial resistance. Their legacies invite us to deconstruct anti-colonial struggles—a restorative and equally revolutionary act. Read more. Read More...
Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Zikism The President and the Revolutionary Ideology He Denied
A troubled relationship with Zikism, the leftist political ideology Nnamdi Azikiwe inspired and drew his political base from, may explain his sudden yet prolonged fall from prominence. Read more. Read More...
The Civil Soldier The Political Legacy of Olusegun Obasanjo
Obasanjo’s legacy as a civil soldier is difficult to summarize. Though he made several advances as Nigeria’s longest-serving civilian leader, he missed several opportunities to build institutions that would have helped entrench true civility and democracy within Nigeria. Read more. Read More...
‘Justice is Local.’ Tosin Osasona’s First Draft
Security analyst and author of ‘Terrorists or Criminal Gangs: New Lords of Nigeria’s North West’, Tosin Osasona, believes justice is a contextual and local concept. Read our interview. Read More...
