Nnamdi Azikiwe
President of Nigeria
Died when: 91 years 177 days (1097 months)Star Sign: Scorpio
{{Infobox officeholder| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable| name = Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe| honorific-suffix = P.C.| image = [[File:Nnamdi Azikiwe PC.jpg|thumb|]| caption = Nnamdi Azikiwe circa 1963| order = 1st| office = President of Nigeria| term_start = 1 October 1963| term_end = 16 January 1966| predecessor = Position Established (Elizabeth II (as Queen of Nigeria))| primeminister = Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa| 1blankname = Senate President| 1namedata = Nwafor Orizu| successor = Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi| order2 = 3rd Governor-General of Nigeria| term_start2 = 16 November 1960| term_end2 = 1 October 1963| predecessor2 = James Robertson| successor2 = Position abolished (Himself as President of Nigeria)| order3 = 1st President of the Senate of Nigeria| term_start3 = 1 January 1960| term_end3 = 1 October 1960| predecessor3 = Position established| successor3 = Dennis Osadebay| order4 = Premier of Eastern Nigeria| term_start4 = 1954| term_end4 = 1959| predecessor4 = Position established| successor4 = Michael Okpara| birth_date = 16 November 1904| birth_place = Zungeru, Northern Nigeria Protectorate| death_date = 11 May 1996 (aged 91)| death_place = Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria | spouse =
* Flora Ogoegbunam (m. 1936; died 1983)
* Uche Ewah (m. 1973) | children = 7
* Chukwuma Azikiwe
* Emeka A.
Azikiwe
* Nwachukwu Azikiwe
* Ngozi Azikiwe
* Molokwu Azikiwe
* Uwakwe Azikiwe
* Jayzik Azikiwe | relations = | party =
* National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
* Nigerian People's Party | alma_mater =
* Howard University
* Lincoln University
* University of Pennsylvania | vicepresident = }} Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, PC (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as "Zik", was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966.
Considered a driving force behind the nation's independence, he came to be known as the "father of Nigerian Nationalism".Born to Igbo parents from Anambra State, Eastern Nigeria in Zungeru in present-day Niger State, as a young boy he learned to speak Hausa (the main indigenous language of the Northern Region).
Azikiwe was later sent to live with his aunt and grandmother in Onitsha (his parental homeland), where he learned the Igbo language.
A stay in Lagos exposed him to the Yoruba language; by the time he was in college, he had been exposed to different Nigerian cultures and spoke three languages (an asset as president).
Azikiwe travelled to the United States where he was known as Ben Azikiwe and attended Storer College, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University.
He contacted colonial authorities with a request to represent Nigeria at the Los Angeles Olympics.He returned to Africa in 1934, where he began work as a journalist in the Gold Coast.
In British West Africa, he advocated Nigerian and African nationalism as a journalist and a political leader.