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Nigerian politics in perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Richard L. Sklar
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On 15 January 1966, a crisis-bound Nigerian government was overthrown by a swift military coup d'état. The Prime Minister of the Federal Republic and his powerful associate, the Federal Minister of Finance, were seized by soldiers in Lagos. Neither survived, although the death of the Prime Minister, who was not personally unpopular, may not have been premeditated. His political chief, the premier of the vast Northern Region, was killed in Kaduna, and the latter's ally, the premier of the Western Region, died violently in Ibadan. Their major opponents among Nigerian office holders, namely the President of the Republic and the premiers of the Eastern and Midwestern Regions, escaped death. The President was on leave outside the country; it is not clear whether the two surviving premiers were spared by design or mistake. In any case, the tendency in Nigerian politics with which the survivors had been identified did appear to have triumphed despite their personal losses of power.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , 01 December 1967 , pp. 524 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1967

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References

1 The Commonwealth of Oceana, 1656.

2 ‘Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 2, 1965, pp. 201–13.

3 ‘Nigerian Politics: The Ordeal of Chief Awolowo, 1960–65’, in Carter, Gwendolen M., ed., Politics in Africa: 7 Cases, New York, 1966, p. 156 Google Scholar.

4 Gaetano, Mosca, The Ruling Class (1896); republished by The McGraw‐Hill Book Company, New York, 1939 Google Scholar.

5 See my analysis in Nigerian Political Parties, Princeton, N. J., 1963, PP. 143–89Google Scholar.

6 In January 1966, prior to the coup d'état, Dr Chukuka Okonjo, director of the Centre for Population Studies of the University of Ibadan, read a paper to the First Annual Population Conference held at the University of Ibadan, bravely asserting that ‘the best available estimate of the 1962 mid‐year population’ was some 45 million – 22 million in the north and 23 million in the southern regions. ‘A Preliminary Medium Estimate of the 1962 Mid‐Year Population of Nigeria.’ See also Aluko, S. A., ‘How Many Nigerians ?’, The journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 3, 1965, PP. 371–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 The most complete account of this crisis is by Mackintosh, John P., Nigerian Government and Politics, London, 1966, pp. 545–609 Google Scholar, who asserts that President Azikiwe tried to take over the government during the crisis, an assertion that has also been made on several occasions by the London weekly, West Africa. I see Azikiwe's actions as an attempt to prevent a dangerously unfair electoral coup by the NNA. See also Oluwole I. Odumosu, Constitutional Crisis: Legality and the President's Conscience (n.d.).

8 Document published by the Federal Military Government, quoted in the Daily Times, Lagos, 21 October 1966, p. 2. A subsequent publication by the Federal Military Government revised this statement to allege that Ibo army officers planned to seize power as far back as December 1964. Nigeria 1966, Lagos, 1967, pp. 5–6.

9 Ibid., p. 5.

10 The Zikists derived their inspiration from the nationalist doctrines of Nnamdi Azikiwe.

11 Nigeria 1966, p. 6.

12 See Colin, Legum's report in The Observer, London, 23 10 1966 Google Scholar.

13 West Africa, 24 September 1966, p. 1079.

14 I am indebted for this observation on the contribution of persons of minority tribe origin to the trade union and organized radical movements to Robert Melson, whose political study of socialists in the Nigerian labour movement is in preparation.

15 An outstanding exception is Dent's, Martin J. study of politics in Tivland in J. P. Mackintosh, op cit., pp. 461–507 Google Scholar.

16 Austin, Dennis, West Africa and the Commonwealth, London, 1957, p. 82 Google Scholar.

17 Coleman, James S., Nigeria: Background to Nationalism, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1958 Google Scholar.

18 Federal Republic of Nigeria, Meeting of the Nigerian Military Leaders held at Peduase Lodge, Aburi, Ghana 4th and 5th January, 1967, Lagos, 1967.

19 See Awolowo, Obafemi, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution, Ibadan, 1966 Google Scholar; Azikiwe, Nnamdi, ‘Essentials for Nigerian Survival’, Foreign Affairs, XLIII, No. 3 04 1965 , pp. 447–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Arthur Lewis, W., Politics in West Africa, London, 1965 Google Scholar.