Infamy

The first time Nigeria’s membership is suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations: 11 November 1995 (suspended till 29 May 1999). Nigeria is also the first country to be suspended from the commonwealth since the inception of the device in 1995.

Suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations is the most serious punishment that can be administered to members of the Commonwealth. In the absence of any mechanism by which to expel countries that breach its rules, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) may choose to suspend members from the 'Councils of the Commonwealth', which amounts to the suspension of their formal membership of the organisation, although their participation in activities of the Commonwealth Family of organisations is not necessarily affected.

The first Nigerian play to be banned by a Shari’a court: Phantom Crescent by Shehu Sani, a Nigerian Playwright (October 2002)

The first Nigerian author to be sentence to death for his literary writings: Chris Abani

Abani is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of so many literary awards which include: The PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, The Prince Claus Award, A Lannan Literary Fellowship, A California Book Award, A Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond the Margins Award and the PEN Hemingway Book Prize.

He is best known to many of us as the Nigerian author, who at the age of 18 wrote “Masters of the Board” - a story about a Neo-Nazi takeover of Nigeria. This publication earned him a six month jail sentence in 1985 which turned out to be the first of many.

Subsequent writings meant that he was twice - after his initial release - a guest of the Nigerian junta. On the third occasion, he was sentenced to death. He was freed in 1991 and lived in exile in London until 1999 before ‘departing’ to the USA.

Chris is an accomplished jazz musician who plays saxophone sets at his public poetry performances. Now based in Los Angeles, Abani published The Virgin of Flames in 2007. He is also a publisher, running the poetry imprint Black Goat Press.

He is one of the best writers of his generation.

Nigeria’s first international presidential political asylum recipient: August 2003, granted to President Charles Taylor of Liberia to end the ongoing civil war in Liberia.

The first incumbent governor to be kidnapped in Nigeria: Dr. Chris Ngige

The first Nigerian heavyweight Boxer to be defeated by brothers in the same division: Samuel Peters. Wladimir Klitschko (Unanimous decision on 24 September 2005 and 10^th round knock-out on September 11, 2010) and Vitali Klitschko knocking out Samuel Peters

Samuel Okon Peter (born September 6, 1980 in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria), nicknamed "The Nigerian Nightmare," is a professional heavyweight boxer and the former WBC heavyweight champion (he lost that title in his first defence, against Vitali Klitschko.)

Peter rose to prominence as a professional fighter following a string of spectacular knockout wins in his early career, at a time when the division was fragmented. He has won a portion of the heavyweight crown and scored notable wins over James Toney and Oleg Maskaev. Samuel Peter is also the only man to have been defeated by both Klitschko brothers (losing a total of three bouts against them).

Peter’s first fight Wladimir Klitschko was on September 24, 2005 and he lost based on an unanimous decision. On September 11, 2010, Peter once again faced Wladimir Klitschko and once again lost, this time by 10th round TKO.

Peter fought Vitali Klitschko on October 11, 2008 in Berlin. By retiring on his stool after the 8^th round, Peter became one of the only heavyweight champions in history (the first Nigerian) to quit against his corner's advice while defending the championship.

The first Nigerian Head of State to attempt to kidnap a person on foreign soil: General Muhammadu Buhari

The Dikko Affair was a joint Nigerian-Israeli attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian civilian government minister living in the United Kingdom, in 1984, and secretly transport him back to Nigeria in a diplomatic bag. After it was foiled, the political fallout seriously damaged relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom for years.

Dikko was an influential Transport Minister in the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari, his brother-in-law. In 1983, the Nigerian government was overthrown in a military coup led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, and a new military government led by Buhari was established. On his second day in power, Buhari issued a list of former government officials accused of a variety of crimes. Dikko, who topped the list, was accused of embezzling several million dollars in oil profits from the national treasury. Despite strenuous efforts to locate him, Dikko vanished, leaving no trace of his whereabouts. Dikko moved to the UK and settled in London, and became a vocal critic of the regime in exile.

Though Israel, at the time, did not have formal diplomatic relations with predominantly Muslim Nigeria, there were less visible ties between the two nations. In particular, Nigeria was an important source of oil for Israel, and Israel was a significant supplier of arms to Nigeria. The Israeli national intelligence agency Mossad was recruited to locate and bring Dikko back to Nigeria to stand trial.

Mossad sources across Europe were mobilized, but all failed to locate any trace of Dikko. However, Mossad Director-General Nahum Admoni decided that Dikko was probably in London, which had become a haven for Nigerian exiles critical of the new regime. Mossad katsas, accompanied by Nigerian security service agents led by ex-Nigerian Army Major Mohammed Yusufu, traveled to London. The Nigerian team rented an apartment on Cromwell Road and posed as refugees from the new regime. The Mossad agents rented rooms in hotels catering to tourists from Africa, and posed as anti-apartheid activists. Working separately, the two teams moved among the Nigerian expat community in London, gradually narrowing their search to West London, to the area around Hyde Park, where many wealthy Nigerian exiles lived. They combed the electoral registers freely available in the area's town halls, but found no trace of Dikko.

On 30 June 1984, a Mossad agent driving down Queensway spotted Dikko. He parked the car and then tailed Dikko on foot to his house in Porchester Terrace. Admoni was immediately informed, and ordered constant surveillance on the house. From then on, house was constantly watched, while the Nigerians, using their London embassy as a base, prepared a kidnapping operation. Meanwhile, the Mossad recruited Dr. Levi-Arie Shapiro, an Israeli doctor who was a consultant anesthetist and director of the intensive care unit at HaSharon Hospital, to fly to London and participate in the operation. Shapiro's job would be to drug Dikko, and insert an endotracheal tube to keep him from choking on his own vomit while being transported in a crate.

Late in the evening of 3 July 1984, a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707 arrived at Stansted Airport from Lagos. The aircraft had arrived empty, and the pilot notified the authorities that the plane had arrived to pick up diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian embassy. On board were several Nigerian security guards, who openly identified themselves as such and stated that they were there to protect the baggage. Their presence was reported to Scotland Yard's Special Branch. The following day, Dikko was kidnapped in front of his home while he was out for a walk and taken away in a van driven by Yusufu. He was then drugged into unconsciousness by Shapiro. However, the abduction was witnessed by Dikko's secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, who quickly notified the authorities.

Dikko and Shapiro were placed in one crate (dimensions 1.2 x 1.2 x 1.5 meters), while Mossad agents Alexander Barak and Felix Abithol occupied a second. However, proper documentation that would have ensured that the cargo could not be inspected was not provided. The crates were not labeled as diplomatic bags, as required by Article 27(4) of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. As a result, customs officials who had received an all-points bulletin alerting them to the kidnapping while the crates were being processed at the airport, were able to open the crates without violating the convention and foil the kidnapping. Dikko was taken to a hospital; he was uninjured.

Seventeen men were arrested; four were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 14 years: Shapiro, Barak, Abithol, and Yusufu. All four were released after serving between six and eight and a half years, and were quietly deported. In retaliation, two British engineers in Nigeria were arrested and given fourteen-year prison sentences.

The Nigerian and Israeli governments never admitted any connection to the incident. Nonetheless, the British government immediately expelled two members of the Nigerian High Commission in London, including the High Commissioner. Diplomatic relations with Nigeria were broken off for two years. The CEO of Nigeria Airways was at one point almost arrested by British police. In the aftermath of the affair, Nigeria filed a formal extradition request for Dikko, but it was refused. The Nigerian governments war against the previous government's corruption was also weakened, as the British governments also rejected Nigerian requests to extradite other politicians wanted in Nigeria on corruption charges and living in exile in Britain.

Dikko was eventually asked to return to Nigeria. He accepted the invitation and set up a political party.

Muhammadu Buhari is also the first former Head of State of Nigeria to lose three consecutive presidential elections in a row.

The first Nigerian politician to go to jail for aiding armed robbers (he was said to have had his own crew of armed robbers): Samuel Taiwo Oredein (he was in Action Group and was Awo's friend)

The First Nigerian to be elected to the senate while in detention: Iyiola Omisore

The first Nigerian to be charged with international terrorism: Umar Farouk abdulmutallab

The first Nigerian speaker to resign because he has a fake Toronto university certificate: Salisu Buhari

The first Nigerian MALE Governor to escape from England in a FEMALE attire: Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha

Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro. He is of Izon (Ijaw) origin- Kaiama. He led the 12 day revolution, the first major Niger Delta Struggle and uprising. Especially after the murder of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa that Isaac loved and thought would grant the Niger Delta people the recognition and emancipation they deserved .Corruption, Tribalism and other vices were rife in Nigeria and Isaac felt emancipation of the Ijaws was necessary in the socio-economic and political situation in Nigeria at that time. He died as a Major while fighting on the Nigerian side against Biafra.

The first Nigerian Inspector General of Police to resign due to allegations of corruption: Mustafa Adebayo Balogun, widely known as Tafa Balogun, was appointed Inspector General of the Nigerian Police in March 2002 and was forced to retire because of widespread charges of corruption in January 2005.

Tafa Balogun was born on August 8, 1947 at Ila Orogun, now in Osun State. He attended the University of Lagos, graduating in 1972 with a B.A. in Political Science. He joined the Nigerian Police Force in May 1973. While a police officer, he gained a law degree from the University of Ibadan. After working in various positions around the country, he became Principal Staff Officer to former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammadu Gambo, then Deputy Commissioner of Police in Edo State, and then Commissioner of Police first in Delta State and then in Rivers State and Abia State. He was appointed Assistant Inspector General of Police in A.I.G Zone One Kano, the position he held when promoted to Inspector General of Police on March 6, 2002.

In November 2001, as A.I.G., Tafa Balogun reassured reporters that there were provisions to ensure the safety of businessmen in Nigeria through the called Diplomatic Corp and Foreign National Protection Unit.

Mustafa Adebayo Balogun became IGP in March 2002, replacing Musiliu Smith. He was responsible for overall police security during the April 2003 national elections, which were marred by reports of police abuses.

Towards the end of 2004, newspapers published allegations of corruption on a massive scale, asserting that Tafa Balogun had pocketed public money and taken bribes from politicians and criminals. These led to his forced retirement in January 2005.

On April 4, 2005, Tafa Balogun was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja on charges involving about N13 billion obtained through money laundering, theft and other sources. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under Nuhu Ribadu brought 70 charges against Tafa Balogun covering the period from 2002 to 2004. He made a plea bargain with the court in exchange for returning much of the property and money. He was sentenced to six months in jail. He was released on February 9, 2006 after serving his sentence, part of it in Abuja National Hospital.

The First Nigerian on the FBI's Most Wanted List: Mr. Tobechukwu Enyinna Onwuhara

He owned a hip hop record label and he lived the high life of luxury hotels, gambling, strippers and bling. The FBI's website now lists Mr Onwuhara as captured, but with scant detail of the arrest. They were offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Mr Onwuhara was wanted for his alleged involvement in an elaborate scheme that defrauded the financial industry out of tens of millions of dollars.

According to the FBI, Onwuhara is a Nigerian who they believe entered the U.S. some time in 1999 or 2000, on a student visa. He had high aspirations for himself, but his thirst for knowledge extended beyond the university's halls of learning -- and they didn't involve getting a degree from a prestigious school. Onwuhara's schemes came from hard work and garnered him millions of dollars. Investigators say he literally researched and tested his schemes until he was successful.

FBI agents say Onwuhara is a very smart and crafty man whose only skill was defrauding people, something police say Onwuhara has been doing for years. He was charged federally with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, on August 1, 2008.

Tobechi was the head of a seven man 419 gang first started in Dallas. Some of Onwuhara’s alleged co-conspirators have been arrested, inside and outside of the United States, the FBI’s website states. On January 29, the Australian Minister for Justice made a determination to surrender Mr Onwuhara to the U.S., he was arrested in Sydney December 2012.

The first Nigerian to be disqualified in a Miss World contest: In 1966, Miss World organisers disqualified mother-of-two Uzor Okafor as she was not the official Miss Nigeria - no contest had been held that year. Okafor later claimed that she was not interested in the pageant, but had been persuaded to represent her country by her British husband.

Pictured - Top: Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria (disqualified), Norway, Philippines, South Africa, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, U.S.A., Venezuela & Yugoslavia

Middle: Greece, Guyana, Holland, Honduras, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia & Malta.

Bottom: Aruba, Bahamas, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ceylon, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany & Gibraltar.

The first Miss Nigeria to be dethroned for forging her age and qualifications: Valerie Peterside (2001)

The first time, Nigeria was listed by the World Bank as a low-income country: 1989. For example, the fall in oil prices and output in the latter 1980s caused a drastic decline in Nigeria's gross national product (GNP--see Glossary). GNP went from US$830 per capita in 1983 to US$250 per capita in 1989. As a result, in 1989, for the first time, Nigeria was listed by the World Bank as a low-income country. The fall in the price of oil caused Nigeria not only to incur a trade deficit but also to begin foreign borrowing, resulting in 1989 in the largest public debt of any sub-Saharan state.

Nigeria’s first loan from the World Bank: 1977 ($1.0 billion from the international capital market). The loan, which had a grace period of three years, was used to finance various medium and long-term infrastructural projects, which did not directly yield returns for its amortization.

The first time the World Bank classified Nigeria as a low-income country: 1989

The first Nigeria based groups to be designated an FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organisation) by the United States of America: Boko Haram and Ansaru (13 November 2013)

Nigeria outlawed Boko Haram and Ansaru on June 4, 2012, declaring their activities illegal and "acts of terrorism."

U.S. President Barack Obama has described Boko Haram as "one of the most vicious terrorist organizations in the world." The State Department's 2012 Terrorism report ranked it the second deadliest terrorist group worldwide, after the Taliban.

The FTO designation makes it unlawful for any person or financial institution in the United States to knowingly provide material support or resources to Boko Haram. The State Department can also encourage other governments to block finances for such organizations, and the designation bans their members from travel.

Boko Haram, the name residents of Maiduguri, Borno state originally gave the group that calls itself "The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad" (from the Arabic, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad,), has killed thousands of civilians, including hundreds of Christians. Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter faction that earlier in 2013 kidnapped and executed seven international construction workers.

In June 2012, the State Department added several of the group's members to a terrorist blacklist, including its new leader Abubakar Shekau, who has a $7 million bounty on his head.

The decision to designate Boko Haram and Ansaru followed a robust debate. The Obama administration had so far refused declaring the organisation an FTO, fearing that it could give Boko Haram greater legitimacy in global jihadi circles, our correspondent says.

On 13 November 2013, The Department of State has announced the designation of Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. Boko Haram is a Nigeria-based militant group with links to al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that is responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years including targeted killings of civilians. Also operating in Nigeria, Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter faction that earlier in 2013 kidnapped and executed seven international construction workers.

The move enables the United States to freeze assets, impose travel bans on known members and affiliates, and prohibit Americans from offering material support.

The first major Intra-religious violence in the recent history of Nigeria: 18-29 December 1980

In December 1980, the Maitatsine riot broke out in Kano, led by Mohammed Marwa, the leader of the Maitaitsine sect, claiming many lives. The exact number of people who lost their lives is very difficult to ascertain. Government presented a figure of hundreds while others put it at many thousands. It was the first major religious violence in the recent history of Nigeria. In October 1982, there was another Maitatsine uprising in Maiduguri in which considerable numbers of lives were also lost. Later on, the same riot spread to Kaduna and to the Sabon Gari area of the city of Kano. In the middle of February of 1984 there was yet another Maistatsine riot in Jimeta-Yola of what was then Gongola State. Some lives were lost. There was another Maistatsine disturbance in Gombe (now capital of Gombe State) in April 1982. Little information was given about it.

The Maitatsine episodes took place against the backdrop of bitter acrimony between Muslims and Christians over the introduction in the 1979 Nigerian federal constitution of explicit recognition of an individual's right to change his or her religion. Northern Muslim representatives actually walked out of the constituent assembly and the religious liberty article was passed only because the military ruler of the day, General Olusegun Obasanjo, pushed it through. That Obasanjo is a born-again Christian Yoruba from southwestern Nigeria hardly made things more palatable for many Muslim Fulani and Hausa in the north. Religious tensions have resurfaced in recent years during the tenure of Obasanjo, this time Nigeria's democratically elected civilian president, as twelve predominantly Muslim northern states have introduced sharī‘a since 1999.

The first major inter-religious violence in Nigeria broke out in Kafanchan on 6th of March 1987. It later spread to Zaria and Funtua (now part of Katsina State). This riot was a result of the misrepresentation of Islam by one Revd Abubakar Bako, who was accused of distorting some facts in the Qur’an and made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. Clashes between Muslim and Christian students in March 1987 at the College of Education in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, left at least twelve dead and several churches burned or damaged. The rioting spread to Zaria, Katsina, and Kano within a few days.

The first of the riots to show very clear ethnic and religious connections: The Zangon-Kataf/Hausa-Fulani (in Kaduna State) religious riots On 15 May 1992

On 15 May 1992 violence erupted between the mainly Moslem Hausa and mainly Christian Kataf communities of the Zangon-Kataf Local Government Area in Kaduna State, with many deaths.

The Zangon-Kataf/Hausa-Fulani (in Kaduna State) religious riots, unlike the earlier ones in Bauchi, were the first of the riots to show very clear ethnic and religious connections. Their origins could be traced to a long history of bitter animosity and rivalry between two contending ethnic communities, the Zangon-Katafs and the Hausa-Fulanis – ever since 1902, when the British imposed Hausa-Fulani district heads over the Zangon-Kataf people. By the way of the riot – something akin to previous ones in 1902, 1904, 1905-1907, 1946, and 1953-1958, native Zangon-Kataf Christians and settler Hausa-Fulani Muslim communities demonstrated their dislike and contempt for each other. Besides, the riots provided the record of being the first time a very highly placed person, a retired Nigerian Major General (Zamani Lekwot), was prosecuted and convicted for alleged involvement in a religious riot.

Retired Major General Zamani Lekwot, was military governor of Rivers State in southern Nigeria in the 1970s and later held the title of Ambassador-at-Large to Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde and Gambia.

The first attempt at dealing with the issue of Religious Pluralism in Northern Nigeria: the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria and Criminal Procedure Code (1959)

The socio-cultural and political differences in Nigeria sometimes escalated into violent crises since the colonial period. As Kazar Toure documents, “right from 1907, when the first set of Muslim Hausa-Fulain rulers were posted into the zone as District Heads and other NA (Native Administrator) officials, there were continuous outbreaks of peasant revolts in such places as Kachia and these took ethnic forms” (Kazah-Toure, 1995). In 1942, the Kaje ethnic group of Zangon Kataf district protested over perceived domination and discrimination by the Native Authority administration. Between 1946 - 1966, there were violent demonstrations by the “Katafs and other related groups in Southern Zaria province over certain oppressive features of the emirate system, particularly the headship of the Fulani ruling families over predominantly non-Fulani districts” (Suberu, 1996). Throughout these periods the crises always had a mix of ethnic and political dimensions but lacked any discernible religious under or overtones.

In response to these developments – the confusion in the status of Sharia law and non-muslims and minorities concern under the Sharia regime, the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, and the colonial government sent an official delegation in 1958 to Sudan and India to study how English and Islamic law were accommodated in India and Sudan and to find out the best way of allaying the fears and anxieties of non-Muslims in Northern Nigeria, a predominantly Muslim region. The panel report led to the setting up of a Sharia Court of Appeal in Kaduna and the promulgation of a combination of laws known as the Penal Code in the region. This was the first attempt at dealing with the issue of pluralism. Significantly, their recommendations resulted in the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code which replaced the Maliki law which had been entrenched for generations in the emirates.

The first Nigerian woman to be sentenced to death by stoning for adultery under Shari’a: Safiya Husseini. Husseini was accused of adultery in 2001 in Sokoto State at the age of 30. After getting divorced, Husseini had become involved with Yahaya Abubakar and did not get remarried. When she became pregnant, she was accused of adultery. Abubakar admitted to having sexual relations with her to the police on three different occasions during the ordeal, but he was released by the court on the grounds of there not being four male witnesses to his crime. General Olusegun Obasanjo intervened, pleading for Husseini’s acquittal. She was acquitted in March 2002 by a court in Sokoto because she had become pregnant just prior to the implementation of Shari’a in Sokoto State. The same year that Husseini was acquitted, another woman, Amina Lawal, was also accused of adultery and acquitted.

The first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor to be suspended for Examination Fraud: Professor Aize Obayan, a former Vice Chancellor of Covenant University, Ota has been suspended from her position as director of the Education Commission of the Winners Chapel by the church’s general overseer, Bishop David Oyedepo. Ms. Obayan was suspended for reportedly altering examination results for several students in the department of Mass Communications. Among the students who benefited from the former VC’s grade alteration was Ms. Obayan’s own daughter. The former VC was accused of perpetrating the academic fraud during her tenure.

The former VC’s daughter graduated with a Second Class Upper Division in Mass Communication and is currently doing her National Youth Service Corps service. A source at the university revealed that Ms. Obayan inflated all of her daughter’s scores, otherwise the young woman would have earned a Third Class degree.

The first Public Execution in Nigeria: April 24, 1971 of three armed robbers at Victoria Island Bar beach, Lagos; they were Sub Lieutenant Williams Alders Oyazimo, Joseph Ilobo, and Babatunde Folorunsho.

The first Prison built in Nigeria by the Colonial Administrators: Broad Street Prison, Lagos, built 1872 to accommodate 300 inmates.

Africa's first outbreak of bird flu (H5N1 bird flu strain): Kaduna, Nigeria (2006). Bird flu was confirmed at one farm in the northern state of Kaduna with some 45,000 chickens dead on a farm owned by the then Sports Minister Saidu Balarabe Sambawa. Thousands more chickens had died in the two neighbouring states of Kano and Plateau.

The first Nigerian confirmed to die from the H5N1 Avian Flu virus in sub-Saharan Africa: A 22 year old woman who died on 17 Jan 2007. The Bird Flu Virus was confirmed after tests on the dead woman showed she had contracted bird flu. The woman, an accountant died after feathering and disemboweling an infected chicken. She was from Lagos. Tests on 3 other victims, one of them the woman's mother, were inconclusive.

Lassa fever, a highly contagious and virulent viral disease, appeared periodically in the 1980s in various areas. The disease was first identified in 1969 in the northeast Nigerian town of Lassa. It is believed that rats and other rodents are reservoirs of the virus, and that transmission to humans can occur through droppings or food contamination in and around homes. Mortality rates can be high, and there is no known treatment.

The first Air-Plane Disaster in Nigeria: Occurred on May, 1949, involving 'Dove' air craft, flying from Port-Harcourt, River State to Benin, Edo State. There were no survivors.The Dove was Britain's first successful postwar civil aircraft, and one of the few successful Brabazon Committee projects. The Dove was developed in response to a requirement for a small feederliner for UK and Commonwealth domestic services. The resulting aircraft featured new versions of the Gipsy Queen engine, a raised flightdeck and separate passenger cabin and all metal construction. The first DH.104 Dove flew for the first time on September 25 1945.

The first commercial aircraft disaster in Nigeria: June 24, 1956 – In the 1956 British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Argonaut accident, a Canadair C-4 Argonaut, crashes shortly after taking off from Kano Airport, Nigeria into a thunderstorm, killing 32 of the 38 passengers and 3 of the 7 crew.

The Kano accident was one of the first to a large airliner to be attributed directly to the weather phenomenon later to be more widely known by the term "microburst", and the subsequent analysis of the tragedy contributed importantly to a better understanding of a grave and hitherto under-appreciated danger to aviation.

The location of Nigeria’s first recorded plane crash: Ikogosi, Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State

The location of the first plane crash recorded in 1942, in Ikogosi, Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State, is to be converted to a tourist centre. One of the elders of the community, who claimed to have witnessed the crash, Olu Adeniyi, recalled that the plane crashed on April 12, 1942 at about 8.15 p.m. He said it was a war plane that contained arms and ammunition, including explosives that went off with loud bang throughout the night.

Visible at the site were the relics of the two engines of the plane and other aluminum and metal materials.

Nigeria’s first Airplane Hijack: 1993. Four Nigerian teenagers hijacked a Nigerian Airways airbus A310 on Monday, October 25, 1993. The plane was diverted to the Republic of Niger. Richard Ajibola Ogunderu led his group made up of Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal.

The group joined the passengers in Lagos, their pony bags hung on their shoulders as they filed through the queue to board the plane from the local airport in Lagos. As the plane settled to cruise at about 30,000 feet above sea level and the pilot announced that passengers could loosen their belts, the boys blinked to each other on their seats, beckoning on the ringleader to strike. He did and the other hijackers, all in their teens, followed. They did not only seize the plane, they also held in awe all the bewildered passengers, some of who were business people or top government officials flying to Abuja, the seat of power. The boys cited the need to enthrone democracy and actualize the annulled June 12 election as the reason for what appeared a desperate action, quite strange to their social milieu. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this plane has been taken over by the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD), remain calm, we will not harm you. You will be told where the plane will land you’ a gritty voice, not as sonorous as that of a pilot, echoed through the small speakers. Panic. Fear. Uncertainties. The airhostesses, Ogunderu recalled, were almost stone dead, having been gripped by fear. They must not move else they would ‘be dead.’ A passenger who was in the toilet was said to have remained indoor until one of the hijackers came to pull him out. Ogunderu said the action of the four boys, now men, was ‘meaningfully desperate.’

The first conviction of a gay man in Nigeria since President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill that further criminalises homosexuality: Mubarak Ibrahim.

In the city of Bauchi, 28-year-old Ibrahim, an unemployed artisan, pleaded guilty to committing one act of sodomy seven years ago. He said he was misled into the act by the principal of the high school he was attending and has not committed a homosexual act since. He was found guilty under Sharia law and convicted of sodomy. He was whipped 20 times in a northern Nigerian Sharia court.

Judge Nuhu Mohammed said he would spare Ibrahim the sentence of death by stoning because the crime occurred so many years ago and because the young man had shown "great remorse".

The 20 lashes were administered in the public court. Ibrahim also was ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 naira ($30). It was not immediately clear if he had been able to pay and go free.

He was among 12 men – 11 Muslims and one Christian – who had been arrested by police since Christmas for belonging to a gay club.

The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that Jonathan signed on 7 January brought widespread condemnation – including by the US, Britain, Canada, the EU and the UN.

The first Nigerians arrested for international heroin trafficking: 1984

The first suspect to ingest a whopping 3.349 kg of narcotic drug in the history of Nigeria’s drug control:Ukoh John Ifeanyi, a 45 year old business man on April 4, 2009.

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency - NDLEA’s first arrest of a trafficker going to Czechoslovakia: January 2011. The suspect who is a graduate of history was nabbed together with a trader in connection with unlawful exportation of narcotics out of the country at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos. Okechi Peter Anieze, a 1989 graduate of History from the Lagos State University, Lagos. He was arrested during the screening of Alitalia passengers on his way to Czechoslovakia, was found with 600 grammes of substance that tested positive to cocaine in the metal handle of his luggage while Ogugua Michael, 30, a trader ingested 72 wraps of substance that tested positive for cocaine weighing 1.165kg.

The first time in the history of Hajj exercise in Nigeria, female pilgrims were deported from Saudi Arabia back to the country for travelling without a male guardian called “Dhu Mahram” in Islamic jurisprudence: 2012. After the seventeenth flight in the airlift of Nigerian pilgrims, Saudi Arabian authorities began to detain and subsequently deport every female pilgrim from Nigeria who was without a male guardian. The first batch of 171 female pilgrim deportees arrived at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano on Wednesday September 26, 2012.

The Arabic word “Dhu Mahram” refers to a man who is precluded in Islam from marrying a woman. This include a woman’s father, brother, uncle and other male relations who have foster or blood ties that prohibit them from marrying her. The Dhu Mahram is to take the place of the husband when it is not financially practicable for him to accompany his wife on the journey

The first country Greece won against at any FIFA World Cup finals competition: Nigeria at the South Africa 2010 finals on June 17th 2010 (16:00) at the Bloemfontein, Free State Stadium (ATTENDANCE: 31,593).

The first Commonwealth Games Nigeria did not attend since its first attendance in 1950: The British Empire and Commonwealth Games of 1962 held in Perth, Western Australia, Australia from 22 November-1 December 1962. Nigeria’s first medal in 1950 was won by Joshua Majekodunmi in the High Jump.

The first doping scandal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland (2014): Nigeria’s 16-year-old female weightlifter, Chika Amalaha. She was provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substances.

Chika Amalaha tested positive for the diuretic amiloride and masking agent hydrochlorothiazide - both banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency — after winning the 53-kilogram weight class last Friday, games officials said.