Greetings!
Good afternoon everyone and happy independence to all Nigerians home and abroad. I'm proud to be a Nigerian, a nation filled with milk and honey. An endowed nation in all ramifications, Nigeria my beloved country.
I love my country so much and I'm happy to be alive to witness the 65th anniversary of our dear nation, Nigeria. A blessed nation which is rich in both mineral and human resources, a blessed land which is good for farming and all other agricultural practices, what a land of honour.
Still in the mood of celebrating the 65th years of my great country, I would like to go down memory lane on when we got our independence and also eulogize our forefathers who fought for the hard earned independence in the hands of the British colonialists.
Years back, when we were being governed by the British colonialists, it's like we were under bondage as we could not even decide our own fate by ourselves, although, we were told that the British colonialists made use of the system of association which was quite different from the French system of assimilation, but even at this, the needed freedom was not granted to us as a nation as we only lived for them, i mean the colonialists.
They were the ones that dictated all aspects of our lives for us, not by our consent but by their method of Association and this really affected us.
So, when it's 1957, as read in some quarters, the journey for the Nigerians independence started and it's in the year 1960 that we were granted the independence, before then, in the year 1914, we got amalgamated together and this was when both the southern and the northern protectorate were brought together to become a nation.
However, the journey to Nigeria's independence was not a smooth one, with both the nationalist and the colonial masters having meetings both in Nigeria and the great Britain and it's the outcome of the daylight and nocturnal meetings of our nationalist and the colonial masters that later led to our independence in the 1960.
It's when we were granted our self rule, which is independence in the 1960, that we were able to take decisions on our own and form our own government with some touch of British interference in our system of government.
Then, it's one of the nationalist whose name was Alhaji Tafawa Balewa that first became the prime minister of the country while other nationalists also occupied various political positions at the time.
Alhaji Tafawa Balewa who happened to be the first prime minister was from the northern part of the country and in the year 1960, he was ousted out of power by a military coup. We were told that he became the prime minister in the year 1957 and continued till the 1966 military coup.
A big thanks to all the nation's nationalist that fought for our independence. The likes of chief Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa and so on really tried and set us free from the British colonialists.
Less I forget, the Nigeria state became a Republican state in the year 1963 and since then, we have been the one governing with many military coups thwarting our democracy.
The annulment of the June 12 1993 election that was adjudged the freest and fairest election was the climax of our numerous political challenges in the country. Though, a winner in the person of chief MKO Abiola emerged, but he was not declared and his victory which was annulled later caused political uproar in the country.
Things got stabilised in May 29, after year of military and political uproar that bedeviled the country and it's another southerner in the person of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was elected and sworn in as the president of the country and since then, we've had seamless transition from government to the other and I can boldly say that we are now enjoying democracy at its fullest.
This is my entry to the hivenaija weekly prompt.
Thanks for reading.
Picture is sourced.