It was reported that Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa went on his only annual leave as Prime Minister of Nigeria in 1963 and decided to spend the vacation in his village.

A British photo journalist came calling and was told the PM was on vacation. "To which country?" he asked, but was shocked to hear it was to his village.
... ...
On getting to his village, there was no evidence to show that a BIG MAN was there. Everybody was busy with their chores. He met a farmer with his donkey carrying bales of sugarcane for the PM's home and he was shocked when the farmer said " I just left him a while ago. You will see him sitting on bare floor with his kids drinking the sugarcane I gave them".

He met them like that and took this photograph.

leadership in nigeria started on the right footing till the infamous five majors and the indecisive ironsi scattered everything!

It is the lack of such people that is turning the north into what they presently are.

blink182: It is the lack of such people that is turning the north into what they presently are.

total lack of leadership is not isolated to the north alone!

How is sitting on the floor dirtying your babariga simple and humble?
It is good and humble that he decided to spend his vacation in his village but not the sitting on the floor. Those sort of traditions then should have been frowned upon. Modernization was lacking in his mindset. Its the truth.

torkaka:
total lack of leadership is not isolated to the north alone!

Very true but it hurts me more to see them dump honesty and simplicity for the crazy lives of southerners.

lol,

Simplicity indeed! Perhaps a simple reason why poverty - of ideas and deeds, ravages Core North. Simplicity!

You do realize there's a difference between Simplicity and Poor Hygiene, right?

^^^
I wonder oo.

In an era of camera, a Minister does not even consider it important to sit on a common mat. This, is not simplicity, this is sheer ignorance.

I rather use a personal hovercraft, and be called 'pompous and ostentatious' than sprawl on a dirty bare floor like a begger in the name of simplicity!
Ignorance is, indeed, bliss!

T9ksy: Yeah right! The same "simple & humble" later sent his 10 yr old son to complete his primary school

education in a private school in london. The day this guy became our PM, the country embarked on her downward slope to

zero development.He was a stooge of the sardunna who was hell bent on his northernisation policy and therefore danced to

his (sardunna's) beat.

This is not true and if it was true it's not people like u that should complain. An Igbo prime minister would move his entire village to London.

In the same year 1963 the eldest son of the Prime Minister ( Baba A.T.Balewa) a form 3 student in Barewa College Zaria with his friends organized an independence anniversary party. ( 1st October 1963) in the school. The noisy boys went on until beyond bed time ( lights out). This was reported to the school authority and the boy Baba A.Tarawa Balewa, the son of a serving prime minister of Nigeria was expelled from the school. Balewa accepted this displine , without complain and would never undermine the authority of a secondary school principle.
The boy was later on actually and I mean actually sponsored by some friends of Balewa ( not all of them were northerners) to a school in UK. ( all initial arrangement was done in secrecy so that the father would not block it).
Your blind hatred would not allow you to see humility and service , even in people who are no longer living.

And this is probably why he got the dagger in the hands of the Military intruders.

Nigerians, we are africans does sittin on d floor by any way makes one less eductd,its our simple way of life

torkaka: leadership in nigeria started on the right footing till the infamous five majors and the indecisive ironsi scattered everything!

Choi....very funny

Some myopic and bigot ridden mind would never cease to amaze me.some people still see nothing good in the actions of a long deceased person.

yusuf baba: Nigerians, we are africans does sittin on d floor by any way makes one less eductd,its our simple way of life

Either the Northern "Way of Life" has significantly changed, or Yar'Adua was not a Northerner. I've searched the whole internet and I can't find pictures of any other Northern leader sitting on the bare floor!

We have seen this for long

torkaka: leadership in nigeria started on the right footing till the infamous five majors and the indecisive ironsi scattered everything!

Depressed ndo.

torkaka: leadership in nigeria started on the right footing till the infamous five majors and the indecisive ironsi scattered everything!

Depressed ndo.

/if he sat in a rolls royce or on a golden throne the same f00ls will still castigate the memory of the man.

Bear in mind dat dis pic is old and ancient. If balewa were alive today, I doubt he'd sit on d floor like dat. But dat doesn't take anyfn away from him doe, he was a great leader, humble and simple, and in touch with the common man's struggles, unlike our leaders today.

Simplicity indeed!!!

T9ksy: Yeah right! The same "simple & humble" later sent his 10 yr old son to complete his primary school

education in a private school in london. The day this guy became our PM, the country embarked on her downward slope to

zero development.He was a stooge of the sardunna who was hell bent on his northernisation policy and therefore danced to

his (sardunna's) beat.

One moment you are lambasting Balewa/Sarduana for their warped policies while in government, the next moment its the turn of the 5 majors who tried ending Balewa/Sarduanas "northernisation" policy through a pustch that you riducle to no end on these pages. . You cant win it both ways you know? If Balewa was that bad, those who tried ending his terror especially in the western part of the country may have been motivated by good intentions. No? Pretty simple to see unless you view every issue with a tribal lens. .
@ Op, if you consider Balewa a humble man for rolling himself on a dirty dusty floor , what sayeth thee when Osama approaches from a cave wearing wooden sandals?

Wel said# kockane..sum stupid animal wld always fink irrational..dats why d world can neva b @ equlibrum..wen fins wld b balanced..if it wer ojukwu dat was sitting on d floor..sum idiots wld praise him nd see sumfin gud abt dat..buh he is a northerner..stupidity wld never make dem see sumfin gud abt him..sumtimes I wish I cld just slap dos animals dat wld neva critisise construstively..

mjconcept:
Depressed ndo.
Depressed ndo.

escaped nut case

espn: Wel said# kockane..sum stupid animal wld always fink irrational..dats why d world can neva b @ equlibrum..wen fins wld b balanced..if it wer ojukwu dat was sitting on d floor..sum idiots wld praise him nd see sumfin gud abt dat..buh he is a northerner..stupidity wld never make dem see sumfin gud abt him..sumtimes I wish I cld just slap dos animals dat wld neva critisise construstively..

WTF?cant understand what u just wrote
simplify pls

torkaka: leadership in nigeria started on the right footing till the infamous five majors and the indecisive ironsi scattered everything!

MAY GOD PUNISH IRONSI WITH HELL FIRE.

that was cool

Sitting on floor is part of their culture. If you go somewher like yobe state & maiduguru where I served all their rich men like to sit on floor & also like to eat together in same bowl. samequote author=Darui] How is sitting on the floor dirtying your babariga simple and humble?
It is good and humble that he decided to spend his vacation in his village but not the sitting on the floor. Those sort of traditions then should have been frowned upon. Modernization was lacking in his mindset. Its the truth.[/quote]

Darui: How is sitting on the floor dirtying your babariga simple and humble?
It is good and humble that he decided to spend his vacation in his village but not the sitting on the floor. Those sort of traditions then should have been frowned upon. Modernization was lacking in his mindset. Its the truth.

Frowned Upon?

Typical humans, always complaining.

Maybe he thinks he doesn't have to go out of his means to be 'modernized' or maybe he thinks he has to act like the ordinary people he represents by sitting on the floor.

I will rather have a humble 'unmodernised', simple leader than a corrupt, greedy, arrogant, idiot as leader.

Ibori wants to modernise.................'' he bought privates''...