TODAY IN HISTORY
• Democracy Day in Nigeria • International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers • 2015 - Nigeria
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as president with an overwhelming wave of hope based on his promise of change after weeks of fierce and bloodsplitting election campaigns between him and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.
• 2014 - Syria
In Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) kidnapped some 153 schoolchildren. They were on their way back to Ain al-arab from taking yearend school exams in the northern city of Aleppo.
• 2013 - France
Vincent Autin (40) and his partner, Bruno Boileau (30) became the first gay couple to marry in France.
• 2011 - Nigeria
Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in for a full fouryear term as president after completing tenure of the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua. He faced the challenge of uniting a country that saw deadly post-election violence despite what observers called the fairest vote in over a decade.
• The police raided Cross Foundation in Aba, a home being used to force teenage girls to have babies that were sold for trafficking. Dr. Hyacinth Orikara was arrested and 32 pregnant girls, aged 1517, were rescued.
• 2007 - Nigeria
Umaru Yar'adua (56), governor of Katsina State hand-picked by departing Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo, was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of power from one elected government to another. Gun battles between rival gangs in Rivers erupted in violence linked to a change of governor, killing 15 people.
• 2002 - UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Paul Boateng (50), as the nation's first black Cabinet Minister and named him deputy treasury secretary.
• 1999 - Nigeria
Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as the first civilian president in 16 years, ending a string of military regimes.
• 1953 - Nepal
Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund
Hillary of New Zealand and Tensing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, became the first climbers to reach the summit. The expedition was led by John Hunt. Tenzing Norgay later authored the autobiography “Man of Everest."