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Nigeria Politics in the Crisis Years
During the first three years after independence, the
federal
government was an NPC-NCNC coalition, despite the
conflicting
natures of the two partners. The former was regionalist,
Muslim,
and aristocratic; the latter was nationalist, Christian,
and
populist. Moreover, the NCNC supported opponents of the
NPC in
regional elections in the Northern Region. Although a more
natural ideological alignment of the Action Group and the
NCNC
was called for by some Action Group leaders, it held no
attraction for the NCNC as long as the NPC was assured of
a
parliamentary majority.
Domination of the Northern Region by the NPC and NCNC
control
of the Eastern Region were assured. Action Group control
of the
Western Region, however, was weakened and then collapsed
because
of divisions within the party that reflected cleavages
within
Yoruba society. This loss of stability in one region
gradually
undermined the political structure of the whole country.
The leadership of the Action Group, which formed the
official
opposition in the federal parliament, split in 1962 as a
result
of a rift between Awolowo and Akintola, prime minister of
the
Western Region. Awolowo favored the adoption of democratic
socialism as party policy, following the lead of Kwame
Nkrumah's
regime in Ghana. The radical ideology that Awolowo
expressed was
at variance with his earlier positions, however, and was
seen as
a bid to make the Action Group an interregional party that
drew
support across the country from educated younger voters,
whose
expectations were frustrated by unemployment and the
rising cost
of living. Akintola, in reaction, attempted to retain the
support
of conservative party elements who were disturbed by
Awolowo's
rhetoric. He called for better relations with the NPC and
an allparty federal coalition that would remove the Action Group
from
opposition and give its leaders greater access to power.
Awolowo's radical majority staged the expulsion of
Akintola
from the party. The governor of the Western Region
demanded
Akintola's resignation as prime minister (although he had
not
lost a vote of confidence in the regional legislature) and
named
a successor recommended by the Action Group to head the
government. Akintola immediately organized a new party,
the
United People's Party, which pursued a policy of
collaboration
with the NPC-NCNC government in the federal parliament.
Akintola's resignation in May 1962 sparked bloody
rioting in
the Western Region and brought effective government to an
end as
rival legislators, following the example in the streets,
introduced violence to the floor of the regional
legislature. The
federal government declared a state of emergency,
dissolved the
legislature, and named a federal administrator for the
Western
Region. One of his first acts was to place many Action
Group
leaders under house arrest.
Investigations by the federal administrator led to
accusations of criminal misuse of public funds against
Awolowo
and other Action Group leaders. A special commission found
that
Awolowo had funneled several million pounds from public
development corporations to the Action Group through a
private
investment corporation when he was prime minister of the
Western
Region in the 1950s. The regional government seized the
corporation's assets and pressed legal claims against the
Action
Group.
In the course of the financial investigation, police
uncovered evidence linking Awolowo with a conspiracy to
overthrow
the government. With a number of other Action Group
leaders, he
was arrested and put on trial for treason. Authorities
charged
that 200 activists had received military training in Ghana
and
had smuggled arms into Nigeria in preparation for a coup
d'état.
Awolowo was found guilty, along with seventeen others, and
was
sentenced to ten years in prison. Anthony Enahoro,
Awolowo's
chief lieutenant who had been abroad at the time of the
coup, was
extradited from Britain and also was convicted of treason
and
imprisoned.
In the meantime, the state of emergency was lifted and
Balewa, determining that Akintola had been improperly
dismissed,
obtained his reinstatement as prime minister of the
Western
Region at the head of a coalition between the NCNC and the
United
People's Party. The Action Group successfully contested
the
legality of this action in the courts, but a retroactive
amendment to the Western Region's constitution that
validated
Akintola's reappointment was quickly enacted. As Balewa
told
parliament, the legalities of the case "had been overtaken
by
events."
Later in 1963, Nigeria became a republic within the
Commonwealth. The change in status called for no practical
alteration of the constitutional system. The president,
elected
to a five-year term by a joint session of the parliament,
replaced the crown as the symbol of national sovereignty
and the
British monarchy as head of state. Azikiwe, who had been
governor
general, became the republic's first president.
Data as of June 1991
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