Africans today enjoy rights-full profound freedom but this freedom came at a huge price our predecessors had to pay to secure freedom for future generations. A lot of innocent people lost their lives as sacrifice to allow future generations live free of the strong hold of colonialism. Behind the unrelenting resolve to kick out the intruders was a force of resolute from African leaders who, in their own ways, stood firm against the colonizers and fought to ensure the continent was free again. Here are top 5 African leaders of all time who fought hard for independence and led their countries all the way through to the post-colonial era we live in today:

1. Nelson Mandela of South Africa who was detained by the apartheid regime for 27 years because of his firm stance on colonialism and African nationalist politics.  He became the first black President in 1994 when South Africa held its first multiracial general election.                                                                                       
2. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the first President of Ghana. He also formed the Convention People’s Party, which negotiated the independence of the West African nation.                                                                                                                          
3. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya who was arrested together with five other Kenyans and charged with plotting the Mau Mau revolt against the British, while fighting for independence. He became the first president of Kenya in December 1964.                                                                                                                                                                   
4. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania who led the Tanganyika African National Union in 1954 to obtain independence for Tanganyika( now Tanzania). He was the country’s Prime Minister from 1961 and 1963, and then president from 1964 until 1985.                                                                                                                                     
5. Samora Moises Machel of Mozambique who joined the FRELIMO rebels, most of who were from neighbouring countries, who helped him to chase the Portuguese settlers out of Mozambique in 1975. He was later declared the country’s first President.

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