February 17, 2021 Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996) Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara (1949-1987) Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, popularly known as “Zik”, was the founder of modern Nigerian nationalism and the first President of Nigeria, holding the position througout the First Nigerian Republic. Apart from having become the first Nigerian president, Nnamdi Azikiwe was a Pan- Africanist who revolutionized the West African newspaper industry. Azikiwe was born on November 16,1904 to Igbo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria which is the present-day Niger State of Nigeria. He is revered as the towering African pragmatic progressive philosopher, scholar and eminent journalist of the 20th century. He was a scholar who wrote many works of educational philosophy. Thomas Sankara was the President of one of the poorest countries in the world. Sankara believed fervently that Burkina Faso could learn to sustain itself without foreign aid. He refused aid packages from the International Monetary Fund that, he said, came with strings attached. As he famously proclaimed, “The one who feeds you usually imposes his will upon you.” At the summit of the Organization of African Unity in July 1987, he tried to persuade other African countries to collectively refuse to pay their financial debts to their former colonizers. “The origins of debt go back to colonialism’s origins,” he said, his voice brimming with emotion. “We cannot repay the debt because we are not responsible for this debt. On the contrary, others owe us something that no money can pay for. That is to say, the debt of blood.” Sankara fought against poverty, illiteracy, and for women’s rights. He left a legacy to future generations that included the spirit of hope, the emblem of integrity, and the historic conscience of the inalienability of the fight against all oppressions. .