Mbonu Ojike: A Concise Biography (CONCISE AFRICAN HISTORY: AFRICA'S PAST IN AN HOUR)

Mbonu Ojike (c. 1912–1956) was one of the most influential voices of Nigerian nationalism in the late colonial period—a writer, activist, and public official who articulated a powerful vision of economic independence and cultural self-determination. Best known for his call to “boycott the boycottables,” Ojike transformed political theory into mass action, urging Nigerians to reject imported goods and colonial dependency in favor of indigenous enterprise and identity.
This concise and engaging biography traces Ojike’s intellectual and political development from his upbringing in a traditional Igbo environment and his early education under the Church Missionary Society to his emergence as an urban educator in Onitsha. It follows his nine-year academic experience in the United States, where his ideas on race, economics, and global Black consciousness took clearer shape, as well as his work as an international author.
The book examines his return to Nigeria as a leading journalist with the West African Pilot and his later role as Eastern Region Minister of Finance during a period of political tension marked by the 1956 Foster-Sutton tribunal. Throughout, Ojike’s thought is situated within broader debates on nationalism, economic sovereignty, and anti-colonial strategy in West Africa.
Written in a clear, accessible style and organized into concise chapters, this volume follows the Concise History/ Biography format and is designed to be read in a single sitting. It offers students, researchers, and general readers a reliable, fact-based introduction to Mbonu Ojike and the wider history of mid-twentieth-century African nationalism.