On this day — August 24 in African history

Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.

1937

Moshood Abiola, the Nigerian businessman who won the widely regarded freest and fairest election in Nigerian history in 1993 only to have it annulled by the military, was born in Abeokuta.

Birth
1516

Ottoman forces under Selim I decisively defeated the Cairo-based Mamluk Sultanate at the Battle of Marj Dabiq, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Egypt.

History
1905

Siaka Stevens, who became the first president of Sierra Leone and ruled for nearly two decades, was born.

Birth