|
Nigeria New State Movements
After independence the attitudes of the major parties
toward
the formation of new states that could accommodate
minority
aspirations varied widely. The NCNC espoused
self-determination
for ethnic minorities but only in accordance with its
advocacy of
a unitary state. The Action Group also supported such
movements,
including the restoration of the northern Yoruba area
(Ilorin) to
the Western Region, but as part of a multistate, federal
Nigeria.
The NPC steadfastly opposed separatism in the Northern
Region and
attempted with some success to win over disaffected
minorities in
the middle belt.
Proposals were introduced for the creation of three
states as
a means of restructuring the regions along ethnic lines.
The most
extensive revision sought the separation of the middle
belt from
the Northern Region, a move the United Middle Belt
Congress
promoted. Serious riots in Tivland in 1960 and 1964 were
related
to this agitation. Another plan was put forward by the Edo
and
western Igbo to create the Midwestern Region by separating
the
whole tract adjacent to the Niger River from the
Yoruba-dominated
Western Region. At the same time, Ijaw and Efik-Ibibio
ethnic
groups proposed that the coast between the Niger Delta and
Calabar become a new region in order to end Igbo dominance
in
that area. At this time, however, only the Midwestern
Region
achieved formal approval, despite opposition of the Action
Group.
The creation of the region was confirmed by plebiscite in
1963.
The creation of the Midwestern Region reopened the
question
of the internal restructuring of Nigeria. One motive for a
more
drastic restructuring was the desire to break up the
Northern
Region. That region, having more than half the country's
population, controlled a majority of the seats in the
House of
Representatives. There was also the fear that the
Igbo-dominated
NCNC would gain control of the Midwestern legislature and
thereby
become even more powerful. A new political coalition, the
Midwest
Democratic Front (MDF), was formed by leaders of the
Action Group
and the United People's Party to contest the Midwestern
Region
election with the NCNC. During the campaign, the
conservative
United People's Party accepted support from the NPC, a
fact that
NCNC candidates stressed in their call to keep northern
influence
out of the region. Many Action Group workers withdrew
support
from the MDF in protest, and some allied themselves with
the
NCNC. In the 1964 elections, the NCNC won by a landslide.
Data as of June 1991
|
