Abubakar Balewa

SIR ABUBAKAR BALEWA d1966. Nigerian politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria upon independence. He was overthrown and murdered aged 53 in a military coup on 15th January 1966. The circumstances of his death still remain unresolved. His body was discovered at a roadside near Lagos six days after he was ousted from office. News of his assassination spurred violent riots throughout Northern Nigeria and ultimately led to the bloody counter-coup of July 1966