Nigeria: A Touch of Texas
“Until a year or two before independence, politics were fought largely on a regional basis, but this was while Britain exercised over-all control. With the prospect of Britain’s withdrawal, Nigerian politicians recognized that the federal government would become a powerful factor and no longer be a weak spot in the chain of government. Thus began an intensive campaign to capture it and Nigerian politics have become more centralized.
For a short course in Nigerian politics, there are three main parties and four main politicians to remember. The principal political party in the North is the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). The West is the home of the Action Group (AG), while the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) dominates the East.
Perhaps still the most powerful figure in Nigerian politics is the Premier of the Northern Region, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Head of the NPC. The Sardauna is a big, regal man whose American limousine speeds him about his beloved North in a commanding flurry of dust. He has not plucked for himself the federal premiership which would cause him to live in Lagos, 600 miles to the south. For the moment he pulls many political strings from the North, and some peop.le say his ambition lies in becoming Sultan of Sokoto, and thus spiritual ruler of the North.
The Sardauna, however, is well aware of the importance of the federal government and the federal legislature which Northern members dominate.
The Northern nominee to the federal premiership is the second on our list of key politicians, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Sir Abubakar is a dry aesthetic Moslem whose voice has the deep resonance of booming Big Ben before the BBC newscasts from London. Besides the resonance, he has the immaculate accent of a BBC announcer, and once, while a student in London, he did in fact read a BBC script over the overseas service to Nigeria. An impressive man to meet, he nevertheless came to politics without a particularly dynamic background.
He was a compromise candidate for the federal premiership when first the post was created under British rule. Born in 1912, he had become a schoolteacher and education officer and was thrust into politics because of the North’s lack of well-educated men. Later he became Minister of Transport.
In 1955 he visited the United States to see how American experience with river transport on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers could be applied to Nigeria’s own river giants like the Niger and Benue. Proudly, he remembers his honorary citizenship of New Orleans. Then, as a rare politician acceptable to all regions, he graduated to the position of federal premier when it was created in 1957.
Sir Abubakar will talk freely of the reservations and reluctance which he brought to his new job, and of his own doubts about Nigerian unity. But he will also discuss what he believes to be his own growth in his position and his conversion to dedication in the task of building and preserving a united Nigeria.
Nigeria has swept to independence in a relatively gently way. Sir Abubakar has not had to be the fiery nationalist, tossed into jail by a colonial government. He has not had to pound the independence road with inflammatory oratory. At one stage before independence, this had some British officials worried. They felt he would be good for the country after independence but felt his national following might be lagging. Thus one official, so the story goes, told him: “I say, sir, you’ll have to be a bit more vicious towards us if you want the crowds behind you.”
Nevertheless, Sir Abubakar did lead his party to victory in the pre-independence elections. He did it in his own right, has much increased his stature both within and without the country, and now is far from being the mere nominee of the North which he once was. Some people see in him the man to begin the democratization of the North, believing he may develop a Nehru-like capacity for reforming Northern feudal rule.
Meanwhile, he is respected in all regions as efficient and quietly incorruptible. Sometimes he is called the “Silver Voice of the North” and his skill as a mediator, calming and coordinating diverse factions, is of immense worth to the new nation.
Leader of the Western Region’s Action Group, which is the parliamentary opposition in the federal parliament, is Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who has sensed the change overtaking tribal leaders and thrown himself into the political fray to become a popular elected leader. Bespectacled and solid, Chief Awolowo’s speeches seem dull at times but behind him there is the well-oiled machinery of his party. Formerly Prime Minister of the Western Region, he now has moved into federal politics to become leader of the opposition.
Finally there is the Eastern Region’s Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, or Zik, as he is better known. Dr. Azikiwe is probably the best known overseas of all Nigeria’s politicians. Educated at Storer College, West Virginia, then Howard, Lincoln and Pennsylvania universities, he returned to West Africa to establish a chain of fiery newspapers and become a leading figure in the nationalist politics of both Gold Coast and Nigeria.
His lithe long frame of a basketball player has ranged across various capitals since, vocal in his demands for African self-rule. To many foreigners he has become the symbol of Nigerian nationalism. Yet, ironically, Dr. Azikiwe has not been able to establish the national following which would give him political control of the country. Like the West’s Action Group, his NCNC in the East is vastly outnumbered by the overwhelming North.
The best that Dr. Azikiwe could extract from Nigeria’s pre-independence elections was a pact between his own NCNC and the North’s NPC which put them in alliance against the West. In the elections the NPC won more seats than any other single party, but not enough to outnumber all other parties combined. Therefore it rules in a loose coalition under which NCNC men hold a number of ministerial posts.
For Dr. Azikiwe there was only the presidency of the Senate out of the deal initially. Then with independence and the retirement of Britain’s Sir James Robertson, he succeeded him in the ceremonial post of governor-general. In East Nigeria one of his own former cabinet ministers, Dr. Michael Okpara, succeeded him as prime minister.
In his new post as Governor-General, Dr. Azikiwe is bringing all his charm to bear. There is a lively atmosphere to the governor-general’s garden parties in Lagos now. Is this the end of Zik as a political figure? Some observers suggest that Dr. Azikiwe is quietly creating a national image for himself as Governor-General and might yet re-emerge in politics. If Nigeria should follow Ghana’s example in becoming a republic, Dr. Azikiwe might be a contender for role of head of state with executive powers. Time and Dr. Azikiwe will tell.
Now with the independence celebrations long over, and Nigeria’s green (for agriculture) and white (for peace and unity) flag fluttering over parliament, Nigeria is on the march.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 