Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) was the first and only prime minister of Nigeria (Wikipedia). He was born in the village of Tafawa Balewa in the Lere district of Bauchi province, to a Gerawa father and a Fulani mother. He studied at a madrasa in Bauchi, at Bauchi Government Provincial School and at Katsina Higher College (now Barewa College) from 1928 to 1932, became a secondary-school teacher, and in 1944 headmaster of Bauchi middle school.

As prime minister from independence in 1960 he led a coalition of the Northern People's Congress and the NCNC (country study). He governed through the crises of the First Republic, including the Action Group split and the state of emergency in the Western Region in 1962. He was killed in Lagos in the coup of 15 January 1966 (country study).

Balewa entered politics in the late 1940s as Bauchi's representative in the Northern House of Assembly, and in 1949 became an education officer. When the Northern People's Congress was formed in 1951 he joined it; in 1952 he moved to Lagos as a member of the central House of Representatives and became minister of works, and under the 1954 constitution he was one of three northern members of the Council of Ministers and minister of transport. In 1954 he lost the party leadership election to Ahmadu Bello and became vice-president of the NPC. In 1957 he became chief minister and prime minister-designate, and formed an all-party government that included the NCNC and the Action Group (Wikipedia).

On 18 January 1959 he moved the motion in Parliament asking Britain to establish the Federation of Nigeria as an independent sovereign state on 1 October 1960. Wikipedia describes his time in office as turbulent, with regional factionalism constantly threatening his government.