NIGERIA: Why We Must Talk! – A no-holds-barred compendium by henry-omoregie PART ONE The average Nigerian is endowed with dogged, never-say-die, ”it-won’t-happen-to-me”, ”I-will-make-it” attributes. Lord Frederick Lugard should be shocked (in his grave) to see us still together after 99 straight years of one year, one trouble. He advised the British authorities then, about the near futility of an amalgam he described as mixing oil and water. In Lugard’s own words: ”the north and south are like oil and water – they cannot mix”. Now this is going to be a long chronicle of anecdotal records that I will leave to the readers for critical analyses. The first 50 years (1914-1964): 1. Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), a member of the Tafawa Balewa and Shagari governments – and as such, privy to intelligence reports and sensitive records – had this to say: “In 1898, Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force initially with 2,000 soldiers, about 90 percent of them were from the North mainly from the Middle belt,, and that was the beginning of our problems. Anybody who wants to know the root cause of all the coups and our present problems, and who does not know the evolution of Nigeria would just be looking at the matter superficially. Our problems started from that time. And Lugard was what they called at that time imperialist.“ Chief Akinjide, an insider, continued: “Infact, the so-called Nigeria created in 1914 was a complete fraud. It was created not in the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians but in the interest of the British. And what were the structures created? The structures created were as follows: Northern Nigeria was to represent England; Western Nigeria like Wales; Eastern Nigeria was to be like Scotland. In the British structure, England has permanent majority in the House of Commons. There was no way Wales can ever dominate England, neither can Scotland dominate Britain. But they are very shrewd. They would allow a Scottish man to become Prime Minister. They would allow a Welsh man to become Prime Minister in London but the fact remains that the actual power rested in England. That was what Lugard created in Nigeria, a permanent majority for the North“. “The population figure of the North is also a fraud. The analysis is as follows: If you look at the map of West Africa, starting from Mauritania to Cameroun and take a population of each country as you move from the coast to the Savannah, the population decreases. Or conversely, as you come from the Desert to the Coast, right from Mauritania to the Cameroun, the population increases. The only exception throughout that zone is Nigeria.“ “The British needed the Railway from the North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation of the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British business interest. He said the North and the South should be amalgamated“. “What is critical and important are the reasons Lugard gave in his dispatches. They are as follows: He said the North is poor and they have no resources to run the protectorate of the North. That they have no access to the sea; that the South has resources and have educated people“ “When the amalgamation took effect, the British government sealed off the South from the North. And between 1914 and l960, that’s a period of 46 years, the British allowed minimum contact between the North and South because it was not in the British interest that the North be allowed to be polluted by the educated South.“ Obvious – the Willie Lynch Principle! Divide-and-Rule! Domination. “I entered Parliament on December 12, 1959. When the North formed a political party, the northern leaders called it Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). They didn’t call it Nigeria Peoples Congress. That was in accordance with the dictum and policies of Lugard. When Aminu Kano formed his own party, it was called Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) not Nigerian Progressive Union. Northern Peoples Congress was, back then, still exists in one form or another in 2011- not without a Northern-prefix! Sometimes, you still read Northern Elements Political Forum! Indeed, these elements have not changed! 50 years later, we are still being confronted with a Northern Consensus Candidate. Northern this, Northern that! Not Nigerian!”The Hausa-Fulani has no ideals, no ambitions save such as sensual in character. He is a fatalist, spendthrift and a gambler. He is gravely immoral and is seriously diseased that he is a menace to any community to which he seeks to attach himself”- Lord Lugard in a Letter to his colleague, Walter H. Lang on September 25, 1918. How Federalism was destroyed in Nigeria By REMI OYEYEMI Monday, April 2, 2012 It was Uthman Dan Fodio, a Fulani and great Islamic scholar who described “Conscience” as “an open wound” that could only be healed by “the truth.” Whatever served as the inspiration for this concept could not be anything other than awesome.The fact that this same Dan Fodio is the great grandfather of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Sultan of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Region, the man who have played a prominent role in the Nigerian vicissitudes makes it highly imperative that we all open our “consciences” and allow “the truth” to heal them, if Nigeria must be saved.It is important that Nigeria returns to true Federalism if it must survive. In this era when there is clamour for the Sovereign National Conference (SNC), it is important that we try to look back in History and examine how our Federalism was unmade. This is because as the Spanish born American Essayist Geoge Santayana once contended, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In this venture, all of us, regarfless of our ethnic background must allow “the truth” to nurture and heal our “consciences” for the sake of our collective survival as a country.The Nigerian Federalism was unmade via two fronts: (1) Structural or Political and (2) Fiscal or FinancialIn 1952, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sultan of Sokoto and the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) made the following request to the Nigerian Colonial Seceretary, Mr. Oliver Lyttleton:“If you want us (the North) to be part of this Nigeria you have in mind, then we want 50% of the membership of the National Assembly.”It would be recalled that as a result of the elections of 1954, there were 162 seats in the Nigerian National Assembly. Out of this, the South had 83 seats (51.23%) and the North had 79 seats (48.76%), including the Yoruba people of Kwara. This means that if the Kwara people were not lumped with the North, they would still have less number of seats than 79, since this was based on population.This shows that the South of Nigeria has always been more populous than the North of Nigeria. But Sultan Bello, as evident from this 1952 request, has a different idea. If one considers his aristocratic background, one would have an understanding of his fear of “pure” democracy. Aristocracy is “the government of a country by a small group of people especially a hereditary nobility” which is “a group believed to be superior to all others of the same kind.”Thus for the Sultan to seek to dominate by any means necessary, would seem natural to him.In 1957, he refused the independence of Nigeria because he insisted the North was not ready. But the North was ready when he got what he wanted, and more, before Nigerian Independence in 1960. The British overlords, in order to assuage Sultan Bello’s fears and put Nigeria in his control, created in 1959, 312 seats for the Nigerian National Assembly without any election or new Census. Out of this 312, the North was allocated 174 and the South 138 in the anticipation of the Parliamentary Political System being put in place for Nigeria’s independence. Sultan Bello asked for 50% of the seats in the National Assembly, he got 55.7%. Suddenly, an apartheid system was put in place as the majority South, became the minority and the minority North became the majority.This is where the future of Nigeria was unmade, and the seed for the destruction of the Nigerian Federalism was sowed. This development gave unburnished confidence to Sultan Bello who declared on October 12, 1960, in an interview with The Parrot, just days after independence the following words: “This New Nation called Nigeria, should be an estate of our great grand father, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the North as willing tools, and the South, as conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.” With Alhaji Tafawa Balewa firmly in charge in Lagos, Sir Bello’s confidence became ebullient. To him Chief Obafemi Awolowo has been a thorn in his flesh politically, having mainatained an effective opposition to the feudalisation of Nigeria. Earlier in 1959, he had vowed to make Chief Awolowo pay dearly for forcing him to canvass for the votes of his Northern people. Awolowo had to be caged. Thus in the Daily Times of May 3, 1961, Sir Bello said the following: “I’m set and fully armed, to conquer the Action Group, AG, in the same ruthless manner as my grandfather conquered Alkalawa, a town in Sokoto province, during the last century.” In May 1962, twelve months after this statement, the NPC Prime Minister of Nigeria, Tafawa Balewa, acting on instructions from Sultan Bello moved a motion to Declare A State of Emergency in Western Region. Below is an excerpt of Chief Awolowo’s contribution opposing the motion of Prime Minister Balewa on May 29, 1962: “Not long ago after independence, there was rioting of a most severe nature in the Tiv Division of Northern Nigeria. Several lives were lost, several properties were destroyed, there was arson and a host of other crimes were committed. At that time, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister as he is today. He did not think it fit to call this parliament to declare a state of public emergency in the Northern Region. Also in Okrika – there was widespread rioting in Okrika; again, several lives and properties were lost. I understand that this widespread rioting in Okrika occurred twice in the Eastern Region. The Prime Minister and the cabinet did not think it fit on that occasion to declare a state of public emergency in the Eastern Region. “But, because the Action Group is pursuing the normal democratic processes as laid down in our constitution to oust someone who happens to be a very close friend of the Prime Minister, and also because the AG is looked upon as a moral foe to the NPC, this very far-reaching provision of our constitution is now being invoked, …..It is doing violence to our constitution and doing violence to the construction of words to suggest that what happened in the Western House of Assembly amounts to a state of public emergency.” On July 16, 1962, exactly 46 days after Chief Awolowo moved this motion and fourteen months after Sir Bello made the statement of conquest of the AG, Chief Awolowo was arrested on the trumped up charges of Treasonable Felony. On November 2, 1962, Chief Awolowo and 28 other members of his party were put on trial. After a hearing lasting eleven months, he was sentenced (September 11, 1963) to ten years imprisonment. This effectively shut down the opposition to the unmaking of Nigerian Federalism which continued unabated. Thus, why Awolowo was incarcerated, the Northern Peoples Congress led Federal Government embarked on headcount. This exercise was headed by a Briton as Federal Census Officer, Mr. J. J. Warren. The exercise was later cancelled because it was unacceptable. Daniel Agbowu in his book “NIGERIA: The Truth” quoted from M. Crowder’s book, “Story of Nigeria” published in 1966 noting that “The 1962 figures were first questioned in the first place not by politicians but by the civil servant in charge of the Census.”
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 11:02:03 +0000
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