Happy Independence Day Niger-areaaaaaaaaa!
For those of you who do not know, October 1, 1960, is a very important day in Nigeria, located in West Africa. On this day, the British Colonial Government handed over power back to us after an election had taken place and a government was established.
The Giant of Africa is the big 62 and I decided to write a heartfelt exposé on the past. Remembering our heroes' past and reminding ourselves that they were all humans like us.
Eminent geographers claim that there are 434 ethnic groups in Nigeria speaking 395 mutually unintelligible languages. The major groups are the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Ibo, and some ten groups account for some eighty per cent of the population.
Nigeria spreads about 923,768 square kilometres (356,669 square miles). She is four times the size of the United Kingdom. From Badagri to Lake Chad is about as far as New York to Chicago.
But what does freedom in a country so diverse entail?
We take ourselves back to 1959 when election preparations were being made.
It was December 12, 1959 and there was tension in the air. 2 years ago, Ghana gained her independence from the British Colonial Government and this put our Nigerian Nationalists on the edge.
Great leaders at the forefront like Anthony Enahoro who in 1953 moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence for the first time faced several political setbacks and defeats in parliament.
The current premiers of the eastern and western regions; Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo participated actively in the 1959 election. Their participation is believed to be of the prospect that either of them could become the “first prime minister” of independent Nigeria.
Sir Ahmadu Bello, on the other hand, was satisfied with running the affairs of the north as their premier and therefore placed Sir Abubakar Tafewa Balewa, his close comrade to lead their political party at a federal level of governance.
The election period caused tension in the air as the major political parties; Northern People’s Congress (NPC), Action Group (AG), and the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), were clamoring for major seats in the house.
In an era when political parties relied heavily on nepotism and ethnic loyalties, the odds were heavily stacked against the aspirations of Awolowo and Azikiwe.
The North had 50 percent electoral representation at the expense of the Southern regions, the Eastern, and the Western.
Significantly, Azikiwe’s NCNC and Awolowo’s Action Group AG were bitter rivals in the South, both relying on alliances with minor northern political parties such as the Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU) and the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) respectively.
The North was eminently controlled by the ethnocentric Northern People’s Congress (NPC) whose leader was Sir Ahmadu Bello.
On the surface level, political alliances were made but what we do not know was that there was an agreement to hand over power to the north every which way.
The north accounts for up to 50% of Nigeria's population and there was an underground agreement between the feudal yet effective Sir Ahmadu Bello and the British Government to hand over power to the North, as they were impartial in a contest between the pro-British North and the nationalist South.
The election resulted in a victory for the Northern People’s Congress, which won 134 of the 312 seats in the House of Representatives.
In the end, a coalition of convenience was consummated between the NPC and NCNC/NEPU alliance. The NEPU was the radical party opposed to the NPC’s conservatism in the North.
Awolowo led the opposition which constituted mainly the AG and the UMBC, the latter agitated for a separate Middle-Best region out of the North.
It is important to note that prior to the NPC/NCNC coalition, Awolowo of Action Group decided to step down on his ambition to become the prime minister and let Azikwe take the role in their coalition.
Bello threatened to take the North out of the federation if the proposed arrangement between the NCNC and AG was effected. However considering the bitter rivalry between the two political parties, it would have been one hell of a coalition government!
What he did not know was that all these things were planned prior to our independence.
The Southern Nationalists had become more educated and more ambitious. They had started clamoring for their autonomy because they had studied these things in Britain and have come back to “take charge”. But things were quite different in the north.
The North has always been a feudalist state and religion has played a large role in maintaining it this way. They have also been quite a conservative region which was quite contrary to the system of government the regions in the south operated.
The regions in the south operated democratic and acephalous systems (headless societies). These are more radical systems which place checks and balances on people placed on any form of authority.
So almagamating these predominant regions in a bid to tap natural resources seems like a selfish thing to me.
Letting bygones be bygones, I want to note that the British decided to hand over power to the north because they could easily maintain the existing structures with them.
Independence happened, but did the structure really change?
I read a criticism document on ’The Nigerian Federal Election of 1959' by Ken W J Post. This thesis by Ken Post emphasized on how “free” and “fair” the election and this document analyses and criticises it.
The writer (who prefers to be anonymous) describes the election as a British election, utilizing British machinery and officials to do their bidding.
Presumably they knew that Nigeria’s terrain is extremely varied, ranging as it does from thick coastal mangrove swamps and rain forests to dry savannah regions in the extreme North.
The hausa-fulani were the best bet of the British since they only answer to their constituted monarchy.
Quite simply, the fact that the British-controlled NPC exercised totalitarian power over two-thirds of Nigerian territory made the election results a nonsense. There had been a secret agreement inflicted on the Southern leaders, binding them not to campaign in the North.
What sort of election was this where the pro-British party, which was hardly recognisable as a normal political party, was guaranteed success?
It failed in the end due to the fact that though an alliance was formed between the NPC and NCNC, the agreement between them was not upheld. The goal was to hand over power to the North any which way and they had succeeded, teaching the north how to go about it. The 1964 elections repeated the same cycle .
Unfortunately, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe became a figure head and the East did not exactly benefit from the coalition. Instead, there were hate speeches in the north about the igbos being very “dominating”.
In an interview with BBC, Sir Ahmadu Bello stated that he did not like the igbos publicly, as they have taken over the trade in the north. This was a problem for igbos who settled in the north due to the trade and coalition.
The Western Region was not better as there was power struggle between Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola.
After the elections, the nationalists took over the positions the governing British once held without changing the structure to what best suits us.
When the British came, they studied each group, predominant and minority and dealt with us the way they thought. The Indirect Rule system that Lord Lugard proposed was completely successful in the north, partially in the west and unsuccessful in the eat due to their headless societies.
Over the years, structures have been revised, Acts of parliaments have been passed, bills have been declared and 62 years later, it seems like we are back to square one.
In this 2023 election, the Candidates are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. The loyalty to party system has changed over the years as parties are not culturally inclined anymore.
The 20th century has seen the advent of technology and social media platforms which has seen different forms of campaigns. Alliances are also being made.
My greatest worry is that we are going to repeat out past mistakes and corruption would be the order of the day.
At 62, we are supposed to learn from our mistakes and move into a more culturally accepting state, accepting our differences as it is what makes us a unique nation.
I wish my country the best in her forthcoming election. the tension is too much right now and I hope we make the right decision as a country and face our problems squarely.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE NIGERIA!
