A facsimile of Iwe Irohin, the first newspaper in Nigeria In the 1840s, the missionaries of the Presbyterian Church began to arrive in Nigeria. They settled in an area known as English Town in Calabar. Among these missionaries was Reverend Henry Townsend who later moved to Abeokuta in the 1850s. In Abeokuta, Reverend Townsend…
Babatunde Folorunsho, Ilobo and Oyazimo at the stakes The name Babatunde Folorunsho sounds nice and pleasant to the ears, but its bearer in history was actually a daylight terror and a nightmare to Nigerians in the early 1970s. Who Was Babatunde Folorunsho? Babatunde Folorunsho was an armed robber and a hardened criminal who threatened the…
Bobrisky (left) and Bob Actor (right) If we guess right, you are surprised because you have always thought Bobrisky is the first Nigerian man to publicly take up the identity of a woman. Do not be surprised, long before Bobrisky lived a celebrated crossdresser and self-acclaimed transgender named Bob Actor, popularly known as Calypso King!…
Footage of the Queen’s visit to Nigeria in 1956. The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, visited Nigeria for the first time on the 28th of January, 1956, four years to Nigeria’s independence and stayed for 20 days. She was received with a military parade at the Ikeja Airport in Lagos and welcomed by dignitaries…
Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman For hundreds of years, Christmas has been celebrated by Christians across the world as the anniversary of Jesus Christ’s birth. It is one celebration Christians don’t miss because it comes with loads of fun, merriment, love, jollof rice and chicken. Although, the actual date Jesus Christ was born remains unknown,…
Herbert Macaulay of Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was formed in 1923 by Sir Herbert Macaulay who is popularly regarded as the “father of Nigerian nationalism”. This was the first of its kind in Nigeria. It was the Clifford constitution of 1922 that paved the way for the formation…
Kunle Adepeju Adekunle Adepeju was a second-year student of the Agricultural Economics Department, University of Ibadan, as at the time of the incident. Prior to his death, the students of the University of Ibadan protested the poor state of the University which included the quality of the catering services exacerbated by the apparent dishonesty of…
It was in 1842 that the foundation of the first storey building in Nigeria was laid by Reverend Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S) on the Marina waterfront in Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria. Three years later, in 1845, some other missionaries finished building what stands today as a significant relic of Nigerian history. The…
Oba Orompoto is the first and perhaps the only female Alaafin of Oyo. She was known for her bravery and tremendous achievements during her reign. Who was Oba Orompoto? Oba Orompoto was the seventh Alaafin of Oyo; she was the sister of her predecessor, Eguguoju. Orompoto assumed the throne because there was no male successor…
Site of first plane crash in Nigeria which is now a tourist attraction The first plane crash in Nigeria happened on the 12th of April, 1942 on a hill called Igbo Ilapa in the quiet town of Ikogosi, Ekiti State. Besides being famous for housing a popular tourist attraction where warm and cold springs meet,…