Democratic Governance in Nigeria

8/8/2019 Democratic Governance in Nigeria

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DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA: HISTORY AND

PROBLEMS TO 1966

BY

IHEDIWA NKEMJIKA CHIMEE

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

INTRODUCTION

The name Nigeria came into existence in 1914. Prior to this date, the

varied culture groups that constitute the polity had existed as independent

and autonomous groups coming into contact with one another through trade

and some other forms of intercourse. As Ijoma observed:

Before the year 1900, different ethnic groups (in Nigeria),estimated at over 250 in number governed themselves in

various ways. However the beginning of the this

century saw the imposition of alien rule on a politicalentity called Nigeria.1

After the conquest of Lagos in 1861, the British had extended their imperial

dragnet to much of Yorubaland before the end of the 19th century. From the

last quarter of the 19th century to the period 1900, places like Benin

Kingdom, the Niger Delta Chiefdoms and the Efik had lost their autonomy

to the British. With the invasion of Arochukwu in 1901-1902, Igboland was

penetrated and taken. The hegemonic Hausa/Fulani Caliphate in the

Northern section of the polity had the baptism of British fire like all the

other groups whom the British had encountered. With the British

appointment of a consul in 1867, which was stationed at Lokoja, the last

three decades of the century saw the loss of autonomy of the Northern Emirs

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and the eventual defeat of the Sultan. At the revocation of the charter of the

Royal Niger Company on December 31, 1899, which empowered the

company to administer the Niger Basin for the British government, the

British took over direct control of the area.2. By 1906, the colony of Lagos

and the protectorate of Southern Nigeria were merged under one

administration. Thus with the amalgamation of 1914, these two

administrative units became one and continued till 1960 when Independence

was achieved. As we have stated earlier, Nigeria as constituted by the British

imperialists is a society with varied cultures and peoples, and the British did

not take into cognizance the future of the disparate and heterogeneous nation

so created in an event of their disengagement. The composition of the polity

was such that leverage was given to the major ethnic groups over and above

the minorities found in their regions. The Hausa/Fulani are preponderant in

majority in the North, the Yoruba in the West, and the Igbo in the East, thus

creating a veritable base for ethnic competition and struggle. This situation

where a single nationality group of culturally related tribes3 in the three

regions being in control of affairs there, and numerically strong, did not go

down, neither did nourish democratic spirit in the succeeding years.

The foundation of disunity was formally laid by the British

administration after the amalgamation in 1914. Lugard who was in control

of Nigeria from this date till 1919, did not show interest in unifying the

country effectively. His policies insulated the North and isolated if from the

south. The Nigerian Council he created did not reflect the true aspirations of

the Nigerian people, and was never seen as medium through which political

participation was to be achieved by Nigerians. That Nigerian Council was

composed of expatriates and only six nominated Nigerians were chosen;

thus it did not achieve any meaningful end for the people as it was a mere

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forum for the presentation of his Annual Address of events in the previous

year without any legislative authority. The creation of Sabon Gari for the

non-natives in the North was an attempt by the colonial administration to

further isolate the two groups of Nigerias.4 Nigerians did not have the initial

opportunity of understanding themselves and developing a deep

consciousness for unity, as a result of the ugly foundation the colonialists

laid.

Lugard did not create an enabling structure for the galvanization of

political consciousness in Nigerians; it was when Hugh Clifford took over

from him in 1919, that a semblance of encouraging signs appeared. He

quickly abolished the Nigerian Council and replaced it with the Legislative

Council for the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. This was a broader

council with wider representation of Africans in it. Ironically, the same trend

under Lugard continued for this legislative council did not have Northern

representations in it, rather British colonial officials continued to represent

the North in this forum, and this trend continued till the next thirty two

years, (from 1914-1946), when Richards constitution was proclaimed.

Though the 1922 constitution is regarded as haven laid the foundation of

elective principle and nationalist activities in Nigeria, it did not bridge the

gap between the North and the South. No wonder the political leaders from

the two lines of the divide, did not understand themselves well in the true

spirit of democratic culture.

Road to Democracy

As we noted earlier, political activity was not a feature of the colonial

state of Nigeria, not until 1922, when the elective principle was introduced

in the constitution of Hugh Clifford. Consequently, political activities began

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not associated in anyway with the conflicting interests of farmers, rather

involved the ownership and monopoly of the nationalist press7. Both Ikoli

and Azikiwe represented different press interests, and Azikiwe could not

endure losing the patronage, which his papers derived, from the NYM; so he

had to leave the movement, and with him, most of his Igbo supporters.

Political activities had to wane at the split of the NYM till the time

some young men from Kings College met with Azikiwe on the need to form

an effective political body8. The series of meetings on this issue perhaps

were called as an attempt at salvaging the dying political zeal within the rank

and file of the nationalists and to save the nationalist struggle from relapsing

into ethnic lines as events were showing9. On 26 of August 1944, the

inaugural meeting of this conference resolved to form the Nigerian National

Council; however, this was renamed the National Council of Nigeria and

Cameroon. This was the first political party after the fortunes of both NNDP

and NYM had waned considerably. From the time NCNC was formed, the

road to democracy was gradually but consistently opening wider with the

political firmaments wearing new looks. The constitution of Nigeria into

three regions at the eve of the Second World War, by Governor Bernard

Bourdillon for administrative convenience, was made permanent by the time

Governor Richards took over and enacted the Richards constitution in 1946,

which in fact became a platform for ethno-regional contest, 10 that has

continued to characterise our political history.

Before 1946, the contradiction in the Nigerian Political System had

been established by the British through their divide-and-rule policies, which

emboldened the leaders of the nationalist movement in galvanizing, and

maximizing the privileges being their ethnic leaders conferred on them to the

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detriment of national unity. However, the 1946 constitution created an in-

road that necessitated the formation of democratic structures like political

parties for the ultimate achievement of independence-though ethnic and

regional in content and character; it created the leverage needed to support

and deepen and sustain a democratic culture. Though this opportunity was in

most instances misapplied by the various regional leaderships in their rabid

quest for power and ethnic aggrandisement.

Party Politics and the Challenge of Democratic Principles

As we earlier mentioned, party politics and political consciousness in

Nigeria was given fillip by the emergence of Cliffords Constitution of 1922,

which created the legislative council to which the electorates elected

representatives to the municipal area of Lagos and Calabar. Though the

number of seats allocated to both areas were limited in comparison to the

electorates population, it was however a booster to political participation.

Candidates who contested election for the legislative council joined political

parties mainly in the Lagos area council, but candidates for Calabar stood for

election as independents; and for the fact that Calabar had available only one

seat as against three in Lagos, did not give mush scope for the development

and organization of political parties comparable in stature to those in Lagos

municipal area between 1923 and 1947.11 what may have determined the low

political ebb there could be attributed to the number of registered voters

there which numbered only 341, and was too small to encourage the growth

of political parties.12 Parties like Nigerian National Democratic Party and

Nigerian Youth Movement, were the most popular political organizations at

this time, though there were other associations that tended to resemble

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political parties to which residents of the colony belonged, but these were

largely unpopular in comparison to the above two.

The Richards Constitution of 1946 left much to be desired as regards

elective representation in Nigeria; the structure of representation for the

members of the legislative council was mainly nomination with exception to

Lagos where three representatives were elected and Calabar which had one.

The nationalists despised the constitutional structure, which was not

patterned to encourage responsible government. Irrespective of the protests

against the constitution, the NNDP/NCNC alliance still went ahead to

contest the 1946, legislative council election. The NCNC of this time was

not popular among the Lagos electorate, and therefore had to align with the

NNDP. The NYM which was already loosing much of its flavour by this

time however did not disguise its opposition to the 1947 legislative council

election. However, Azikiwe, Adedoyin and Olorun-Nimbe who won the

Lagos seats boycotted Legislative Council Sessions for nearly one year, and

did not take the prescribed oath till March, 1948. This was because electors

of the Lagos municipal area in 1947 passed a resolution mandating their

representatives to abstain from being sworn in till the amendment of

Richardss constitution as it was envisioned that through that way Nigeria

shall have responsible government.

Election into the municipal areas of Lagos and Calabar between 1923

to 1947 was generally free and fair without ballot stuffing, thuggery,

violence, arson and killings associated with elections from the independence

period. Though the Richards constitution had created regionalism, the 1954

constitution had deepened it. Between 1947-1952, two other key regional

parties had been formed thereby setting the stage for political calculation and

support on regional grounds. The Action Group was launched in Nigeria as

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a cultural organization in 1948, and as a political party in 1951. From its

conception, this party represented the interests of the descendents of

Oduduwa, and had Obafemi Awolowo, as its progenitor. The Northern

Peoples Congress formally became a political party in 1951; while the

National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon had been formed as early as

1944. The regional legislative houses elections unsurprisingly saw these key

three parties in control of their regional houses. This fact had been variously

discussed, and Nafziger notes that

In Nigeria, the three largest ethnic communities Hausa-

Fulani, Ibo (sic), Yoruba were major rivals in thestruggle for power at the centre, and also dominated the

polities of the main Regions.the North, East, and Westrespectively.14

The politics of Regional Houses of Assembly was characterized by

struggle, arm-twisting, betrayals and intimidation, as each party leader

sought to consolidate its power by reducing opposition.15 This led Sklar to

observe the three basic contradictions that characterized Nigerian political

system. He identified them to include the regionalization of party machinery

of government, the reliance of the opposition party upon the support of a

class-conscious regional power group; and that the constitutional allocation

of power is inconsistent with the real distribution of power in society-the

constitution gives dominant power to the numerical majority, the north.16

During the 1957 regional election, opposition parties, particularly theNorthern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) suffered defeat at the hands

of the emirs, because the emirs being conservative, did not feel at ease with

the radicalism exhibited by the members of NEPU. More so, since the

constitutional arrangement empowered the emirs and other Native

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Authorities to inject into the final electoral colleges at the provincial levels

additional members equal to 10 percent of the elected membership, their

choice candidates were injected into the regional assembly.17 The story of

regional party domination was the same in both the Eastern and Western

Regions where ethnic parties controlled the political space.

Again in December 1953, Azikiwes NCNC won a landslide victory

in the Eastern Regional election, under the 1954 constitution thereby paving

the way for the emergence of Azikiwe as the Premier of the Region;

Obafemi Awolowos AG won in the West and he became the Premier of the

West, the NPC won in the North and the Saduana of Sokoto was designated

premier of the North18; consequently making each a regional Lord. At the

1954 Federal elections, the overall anticipation was that Action Group

would win majority seats in the West so as to form a parliamentary coalition

with the NPC, but the NCNC won majority of seats in both the East and

West, thus making way for a coalition with NPC. Prior to the 1959 general

election, each of the three regional parities fought to retain victory and to

consolidate its position; and Party politics was anything less than free and

fair. The AG campaigned for the creation of a new states in both the North

and East, so as to secure the support of the minorities in the respective

regions and to destabilize the party in control, but this strategy failed as both

the North and the East resisted if vigorously.

The 1959 general election showed the supremacy of the political

parties in their respective regions. The NCNC had won all the 50 seats in the

East, the NPC won 104 out of 110 seats in the upper North, the AG won 32

out of the 47 seats in the Yoruba sector of the West, won 14 seats out of 23

seats out of 23 seats in the Eastern minority area and in alliance with

UMBC, won 25 out of the 74 seats in the lower North. The NCNC won 14

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out of the 15 seats in the Midwest. The NPC came out of the poll with 142

seats out of a total of 312 seats. The NCNC/NEPU alliance showed second

with 89 seats; while the AG had 73 seats.19 The NCNC which at this time

had become friendly with the NPC, once again formed a coalition Federal

Government, having Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister while

Nnamdi Azikiwe became the President. The political actors during the

election of 1959 flouted known democratic principles in campaigning for

votes, and continued in the 1964 general election in the same style.

The procedures for the conduct of 1959 and 1964 Federal elections

varied. For instance, universal adult suffrage from single member

constituencies was used in the Eastern and Western Regions as well as in

Lagos, while adult male suffrage was adopted in the Northern Region.

Intimidation was another feature of the election period especially by the

leading parties against their rivals. Thus in 1959, two members of the AG

were indicted by the Eastern regional government on the grounds of

publishing documents charging official discrimination against supporters of

their party which were alleged by the government to contain seditions

statement. One was convicted and imposition of a 100 pound fine (or two

years imprisonment) 20. In Western region allegations were rife that the

regional government party used the customary courts to intimidate

supporters of the opposition, and in the North, opposition party members

were constantly subjected to pervasive restriction on their freedom of action

and opinion. Prohibitions by a regional statute in the North made it an

offence for any one under the age of sixteen to attend political meetings,

wear party badges, shout slogans or distribute party literature; and forbade

adults from inciting children to do this things.21

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Another flaw that characterized politics during the 1959 Federal

election was the requirement for permit to hold political meetings. In the

North, this power was vested in the Native Authorities and lies in the hands

of District Heads-who were politicians. As a result, AG and NEPU members

were jailed or fined or even caned for addressing meetings without a permit,

or for shouting the name of the opposition leader as a chief.22 Generally, the

1959 election was marked by distressingly frequent acts of violence

during the campaigns, electoral procedure that produced the independence

government was one that lacked full democratic practices, and may have

accounted for why the first Republish did not sustain.

Inter and intra-party struggle for the domination of the political space

lad to the political parties devising strategies, which had negative backlash

on the political process. For example, after Awolowo had left the region for

the centre as the national opposition, he sought to retain the over-bearing

powers he had enjoyed while the premier as the leader of the party, but the

premier Akintola would not concede such grounds to him. The disagreement

on the operational tactics of the party and power struggle rent the AG and by

1962 a state of emergency was declared by the Federal Government. While

the coalition government intent on finding a leeway to destroy the AG,

capitalized on the crises to create the Mid-Western region in 1963, to whittle

the influence of AG and ultimately destroy the party and its leadership.

After the declaration of state of emergency by the Federal

Government, a commission was set to look into the past activities of the

Action Group; and was headed by justice G.B.A Coker of the then Lagos

High Court. The Commission castigated Chief Awolowo and his supporters

for having allowed public funds to be wasted in the form of unredeemed

loan made by the government to private individuals.24 Meanwhile, Chief

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Awolowo was arrested along with some of his supporters; they were charged

with plotting to overthrow the government and upon conviction Awolowo

was sentenced to ten years imprisonment while others got varied terms of

imprisonment. At the end of the state of emergency in 1963, Akintola and

his faction in AG who had formed the United Peoples Party combined with

former NCNC opposition members of the Western House of Assembly to

form a new coalition government in the region with Akintola as Premier;

while the old AG became the opposition in the Western Regional House of

Assembly. Yet a rift developed between the UPP/NCNC alliances leading to

the transformation of UPP/NCNC coalition into Nigeria National

Democratic Party under Akintolas leadership 25.

The creation of the Mid-Western region had arguably led to the loss of

NCNC members in the Western Regional House of Assembly and the

weakening of the party in the region. This situation played into the hands of

Akintola who fanned the embers of Yoruba ethnicity. It accused the NCNC

of being an Igbo party and claimed that its participation in the Federal

Government was only to foster the interest of the Igbo people. A campaign

of hatred was generated against the leadership of the NCNC by the UPP and

supported by the NPC. The supporters of the NCNC in the West were urged

to withdraw their support arguing that the party was out to enslave them.

The 1962/63 census controversy and the general election of 1964 formed the

basis for the eventual collapse of the first Republic. The hostility unleashed

by the NNDP and NPC against the NCNC, led the NCNC form an alliance

with the AG, which was called United Progressive Grand Alliance.

Akintolas NNDP increasingly became unpopular among the Yoruba people

and this led to the party adopting all manner of unwholesome political

approach to revitalize its fading popularity and to be in power at all cost.

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The regional election into the Western Regional House of Assembly

of 1964 was the worst election in the history of party politics in Nigeria. The

NNDP/NPC alliance was neck-deep into fraud to retain power. The electoral

commission was used to falsify results, the legal machinery was used in

favour of the NNDP, thugs fought opponents of the NNDP; generally, the

election was fraudulent, and was responsible for the violent convulsion that

rocked the region and the eventual military coup of January 15, 1966.

Mukwugo Okoye observed that the NNDP of S.L. Akintola, perhaps created

a world record in its shameless political opportunism, because it not only

changed alliances, in response to weathercock of political expediency, but

also, in order to remain in power even after it had lost the confidence of the

Western electorates. 26

The politics of the period of our study showed graphically the flaws

inherent in the political elites style of leadership. All known democratic

principles were disregarded and power calculations remained largely

regional. This type of atmosphere could only but breed tension and crisis. As

it were, the military struck, bringing to an abrupt end Nigerias First

Republic after barely six years in governance after independence.

Conclusion

The development of democratic culture in Nigeria had basic

constraints. The British colonial administration intentionally created the

polity to divide it and its peoples. Both the Lugardian Nigerian Council and

the Lagos Legislative Council which he created, did not have Northern

representatives. The Cliffords Legislative Council for the Colony and

Protectorate of Nigeria, still did not have Northerners there, but merely had

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British officials representing the North. This type of situation acted as a

catalyst that deepened mutual distrust between the two groups of Nigerians.

Regionalism further distanced the groups, rather than pursue national

programmes and policies that would engender unity, the leaders of the

various political parties pursued regional and ethnic interests as well as self-

rewarding programmes. This constituted a major set back in the

development of a virile democratic culture in the polity.

The cut-throat competition which characterized party politics during

the nationalist period continued after independence and weakened the

structures of democratic governance so much so that the civilian regime fell

a cheap pray to the military in January 1966. The political elites are squarely

to be blamed for the mess that became the political terrain of Nigeria during

this period. Had primordial and sectional politics been avoided and

integrative policies pursued by the political party leaders, perhaps

democratic governance would have succeeded in independent Nigeria and

the consciousness deepened in the mind set of Nigerians. Democracy is

attitudinal in nature and requires openness and accommodation to thrive.

The Nigerian experience during this period showed that elite did not want to

sacrifice for the future of the nation but were merely pretending to work for

the development of the institutions of democratic governance. The current

pattern of politics in Nigeria can be traced back to the old problems of

Nigeria, and not until the nation is taken in with seriousness and

commitment by all, the aspirations of good governance through democratic

consolidation may well be an infatuation.

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NOTES

1. Okoro. Ijoma, Nigerias Path to Western Democracy

1900-1960: A

Historical Perspective, in Bulletin of

Ecumenical Theology, Vol. 5/2 1993, p.30.

2. Ihediwa N. Chimee, The Impact of Ethnicity on Democratic

Transition in

Nigeria: A case study of the Two-Party

System, 1989-1993 A B.A. Project

Submitted to the Department of History,

University of Nigeria, Nsukka, September

1996, p.1-2.

3. Richard .L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an

Emergent African Nation, Nigeria: Nok

Publishers, 1963, p.4

4. Olusanya. G.O., The Sabon-Gari System in the Northern

States of Nigeria in Nigerian Magazine,

No. 94, Sept. 1967, pp. 242-244.

5. Tekena, Tamuno, Nigeria and Elective Representation 1923-

1947, London: Heinemann Education at

Books, 1965, p. 33-34.

6. G.O. Olusanya, The Second World War and Politics in

Nigeria 1939-1953, Lagos: Evans Brothers,

1973, p.17.

7. Okwudiba, Nnoli, Ethnic Politics in Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth

Dimension Publishers, 1977, p. 143.

8. G. O. Olusanya, Ibid. p 72.

9. Ihediwa N. Chimee, The Political Class and the Manipulation of

Ethnicity in Africa: The Nigerian case to

1966 in Proceedings of the International

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Research and Development Institute, Vol. 1,

No.2,2006, p. 101.

10. Ayodeji. Olukoju, Nigeria: A Historical Review inNew

Strategic ForCurbing Ethnic and Religious

Conflicts in Nigeria, (ed), F.U. Okafor,

Enugu:Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1997,

p. 26.

11. Tekena. Tamuno, Nigeria and Elective Representation 1923-

1947, p. 57.

12. Loc. Cit.

13. Ibid. p. 99-100.

14. Wayne E. Nafziger, The Political Economy of Disintegration in

Nigeria in Journal of Modern African

Studies, Vol. 11, No.4, 1973, p. 508.

15. I. F. Nicholson, Political Parties in Nigeria, in The Politics

and Administration of Nigerian Government(ed), Franklin .L. Blitz, London: Sweet and

Maxwell, 1965, p. 151.

16. Richard .L. Sklar, Contradictions in the Nigerian Political

System in Journal of Modern African

Studies, Vol.3, No.2, 1965, p. 201.

17. Richard .L. Sklar, and C.S. Whitaker, Jr. The Federal Republic of

Nigeria inNational Unity and Regionalismin Eight African States, (ed) Gwandolen. M.

Carter, London: Oxford university Press,

1966, p. 42.

18. Ibid. p. 50.

19. Ibid. p. 52.

20 Ibid. p. 90.

21. Kenneth . Post, The Nigerian Federal Election of 1959,

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London: Oxford University Press, 1964, p.

290-291.

22. Ibid. p. 292

23. Ibid. p. 299.

24. Olushola. Fadehunsi , Nigeria: The Last Days of the First

Republic, Lagos: A.O. F. Press, 1970, p.8.25. Ibid. p.9.

26. Mokwugo. Okoye, Politics and Problems of the First Republic

of Nigeria, Ife: University of Ife Press, 1874,

p. 10.

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