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MID-WEEK ESSAY: The 35 Facts of the Matter - Enahoro, Akintola, the Motions of Self-Government and Independence,
and All that Jazz - As Different from Fantasy!
by
'Bolaji Aluko
March 26, 2009
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Dear All:
I have stood on the side of this Akintola-Enahoro debate first, because, first I was away in Nigeria for ten days when it all began very heatedly - you know, Internet access back home is still at a premium - and secondly because I like seeing my Ogbomos(h)o friend Kale Oyedeji defend his hapless hero Chief SLA (the most favored son of Ogbomos(h)o) at every opportunity.
It is a tough task - but somebody has to got do it - and why not Kale?
Besides, today is Kale's birthday too - March 26. Akintola also has a historic moment on this same day many years ago as we will discover below: so I rise to intervene to honor them both...
Moving on....
In my contributions below, I will rely on four references:
1. "Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" by James S. Coleman [Broburg & Wistrom, 1986]
2. "Nigeria: Yesterday, Today, And...?" by James O. Ojiako [Africana Educational Publishes (Nig.) Ltd.]
3. "Nigeria's Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation " by Richard L. Sklar [Africa World Press, 2004]
4. "Nigeria: The Tribes, the Nation, or the Race", by F.A.O Scwharz, Jr., [The MIT Press, 1965]
It will involve a whole load of dates, but moving largely backwards.
Who moved the motion for Independence?
1. The ONE and ONLY motion for Nigeria's Independence (aka full self-government) in the Federal House of Representatives was moved and passed on Thursday, January 14, 1960. None of my records shows EXACTLY who moved this motion in the House and who seconded it, etc. , but not any of the names frequently mentioned.
2. The new Federal House of Representatives had just held its first meeting two days earlier, on Tuesday, January 12, 1960.
3. Chief Ladoke Akintola may have been present at the proceedings, but he could NOT have moved the motion, because on December 15, 1959, he (being Deputy Leader of the Action Group) had been appointed Premier of the Western Region in succession to Chief Awolowo, who was to become the Leader of the Opposition of the new Federal Legislature. Up until his appointment, Akintola was Leader of the Action Group Opposition in the Federal House of Representatives. Awolowo most certainly must have been present at the historic proceedings.
4. On April 22, 1960, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafewa Balewa left Nigeria for London to complete the talks for the final transfer of power to Nigeria on October 1, 1960.
5. Note that Balewa of the NPC became Prime Minister first on August 29, 1957, forming an all-parties (NPC, NCNC, AG, KNC) coalition government on August 30. Akintola (Minister of Communications and Aviation) and Rosiji (Minister of Health) were the AG cabinet members. Mbadiwe (Commerce and Industry), Njoku (Transport), JM Johnson (Labor), Okotie-Eboh (Finance), Kolawole Balogun (Research and Information) were NCNC, Mukete (State) was Kamerun National Congress, while Ribadu (Lagos Affairs; Mines & Power), Inuwa Wada (Works and Survey) and Dipcharima (State) were NPC. [After their expulsion from the NCNC following their disagreement with Zik over the Foster-Sutton corruption tribunal palavar, Mbadiwe and Balogun resigned their positions on July 26, 1958, to be replaced by Dipcharima and Mukete respectively on July 27. Mbadiwe and Balogun had joined 29 others in writing a letter to Zik on June 14, 1958, demanding his resignation from government and from the party after publication of the adverse Foster-Sutton Commission of Enquiry report on January 16, 1957.]
6. Then again after the December 1959 elections, on December 20, 1959, Abubakar Tafewa Balewa retained his Prime Ministership, but now only NPC and NCNC were coalition partners.
7. Prior to August 29, 1957, there had been a 1954 Federal House of Representatives elections from October - December 1954, in which the NPC and allies had 79 seats, the NCNC and allies had 56 seats, the Action Group and allies had 27 and other parties had 22 seats. On January 10, 1955, NPC and NCNC announced a Coalition Council of Ministers (with Balewa leading the NPC as Minister of Transport and Works, and Mbadiwe leading the NCNC as Minister for Communications and Civil Aviation for example, with Sir John McPherson as Governor-General since October 1, 1954 when the new constitution came into force). There were no ministers from the Action Group.
But what PRECISELY did Akintola actually do in terms of self-government, where it must be understood that Independence was always considered FULL self-government, as different from the ordinary self-government which the East and the Western Regions had achieved on August 8, 1957 and the Northern Region achieved on March 15, 1959?
8. On March 26, 1957, two months before a May 1957 Constitutional Conference scheduled for London, Akintola of the Action Group introduced a motion in the federal House of Representatives that "this House instructs the delegates...to the forthcoming Constituional Conference to express the views of this House to do all in their power to secure the grant of self-government to the Federation of Nigeria in 1957."
9. Akintola's motion was amended by J.A. Wachukwu of the NCNC to change 1957 to 1959, an amendment which Akintola promptly accepted in an "utmost spirit of unanimity."
10. After Akintola's acceptance of the amendment, Alhaji Tafewa Balewa rose on behalf of members of the NPC in the House, that his party, although it had never reached a firm decision on a definite date for the attainment of Nigerian independence, saw "no reason why we of the Congress should refuse to allow the House of Representatives the opportunity to instruct their political delegates to press for the fixing of a date for Nigerian independence in 1959." The amended motion setting 1959 as the "year of destiny" was then passed unanimously.
Now how did 1959 become October 1, 1960, the final agreed (and actual) date of Nigeria's Independence?
11. Following agreement in January 1957 by the Federal and four regional governments of Nigeria, the London Constitutional Conference (postponed from 1956) was to be held between May 23 and June 26, 1957, at Lancaster House, with Colonial Secretary Lennox Boyd chairing. Present where all the big guns: Awo, Akintola, Zik, Ahmadu Bello, Tafewa Balewa, Endeley, Foncha, Aminu Kano, Tarka, several chiefs etc. and their advisers.
12. Parenthetically, on March 6, 1957, Ghana became Independent and sovereign. This took Nigerian politicians by surprise and further spurred the agitation for self-government/Independence.
13. Towards the end of the London Conference, Lennox-Boyd (on June 23, 1957) announced refusal of the British Government to accept a 1959 date for Nigeria's Independence, and suggested that a new Nigerian Parliament should in early January 1960 make a motion for a 1960 date, which the British Government would then consider favorably.
14. In response, the Nigerian delegation, in a joint statement, reluctantly accepted the new 1960 date, but went on further to "impress upon His Majesty's Government the necessity for granting independence to the Federation of Nigeria not later than April 2, 1960" [on which date I would have turned exactly 5 years old - Bolaji Aluko notes.]
15. As an outcome of this 1957 conference, on September 25, 1957 the Willinks Minorities Commission was established, which completed its investigation in April 1958 and published its report on August 18, 1958.
16. It was at another (and final pre-independence) Conference in London - from September 28 to October 27, 1958, with Lennox-Boyd again presiding, that the final date - October 1, 1960, was agreed, with a request that a new Parliament enter a motion to that effect in early January 1960. The Willink Commisison report was also discussed. Again, most of the Nigerian political big guns that were present in the May/June 1957 conference were again present in the September/October 1958 conference.
Now, what was Anthony Enahoro's role in all of this? It all started back in 1944, soon after the NCNC was formed on August 26, 1944. [Note: NCNC's First president: Herbert Macaulay; Gen. Sec. - Nnamdi Azikiwe. HM died at age 82 on political tour in Kano on 7th May, 1946.]
17, On December 6, 1944, Sir Arthur Richards (later called Lord Milverton), then Governor of Nigeria (from 1943-1947), prepares constitutional reform for greater indigenous Nigerian participation in their own affairs, and on March 5, 1945, the new Constitution is presented before a Legislative Council for approval. Despite a Zik-led NCNC delegation to London (on August 13, 1947; it includes Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, among 5 others) protesting the Richards Constitution, the British Government assents to it and sends the delegation back to cooperate with Sir Richards and work under the quasi-federal 1946 Richads Constitution recognizing three regional assemblies, and a Legislative Council in Lagos largely of nominees for the whole of Nigeria. Sir Richards is succeeded by Sir John MacPherson in 1948.
18. There was a follow-up constitution review conference in Ibadan (January 9-29, 1950) to revise the controversial elements of the Richards Constititution towards agreeing on the new elements of what would become the MacPherson Constitution.,
19. The Action Group had been formally inaugurated as a political party on March 10, 1951; NCNC transformed from a coalition of organizations to a party of individuals on March 17, 1951; June 15 Ibadan Peoples Party (aka Mabolaje) is announced. [Note that NPC was formed by Aminu Kano and co. in December 1949 in Kano, but after a moribund period, became revived on October 1, 1951. Dissatistied with NPC, Aminu Kano broke with it and formed NEPU in August 1950, also in Kano, thereafter forming a working alliance with the NCNC in 1951.]
20. The first explicit target date of 1956 for self-governance was set on March 27, 1951 by the National Rebirth Assembly meeting in Lagos for the purpose of recommending changes in the organizational structure and constitution of the NCNC in preparation for the electoral campaign later that summer. At its inaugural Owo First Regional Conference of Party Members on April 28-29, 1951, the Action Group resolves that Nigeria must be free "within five years" The political climate was all under the MacPherson Constitution, which became operational on June 29, 1951.
21. The Western Regional elections were held September 24, 1951 (balance held November 20 in Lagos, and December 6 in the Midwest). [Note: the famous carpet crossing event arising from the election was on January 10, 1952, after which Awo became Leader of Government Business in the Western Region.] Enahoro is sent to the Federal House as an Action Group member. After a brief stay in the Western Region as Leader of Opposition, Zik returns in 1952 to the Eastern Region also as Leader of Government Business/Chief Minister.
22. After the Action Group formally adopted the 1956 independence date at its First Annual Congress (Second Regional Conference) in Benin December 17-20, 1952, on March 31, 1953, Enahoro (born 22 July 1923, and therefore not yet 30 years old) moved in the Federal House of Representatives that "this House accepts as a primary political objective the attainment of self-government for Nigeria in 1956." He stated that:
"the bare idea of self government is no longer attractive, is no longer enough. Whether it is express as "self government
in our lifetime", or 'self government in the shortest possible time' or 'self government as soon as practicable', it has ceased
to be a progressive view, because Nigerian nationalism has moved forward from that position. The question in the public
mind since the end of the war has been, 'self government, when? What time, what date?"
23. Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, then leader of the NPC in the House, moved that "in 1956" should be changed to "as soon as possible."
24. Tempestuous and bitter debate ensued, and all the NCNC and Action Group members walked out of the House, and later formed an alliance to force the issue of self-government in 1956, including sending delegations to Northern cities to campaign for self-government in 1956, The four Action Group members of the Council of Ministers under McPherson resigned their appointments.
25. In May 1953, Akintola led such a delegation to Kano, which led to riots in which 36 deaths (15 northerners and 21 southerners) occurred on or around May 19.
26. On May 21, 1953, the Secretary of State to the Colonies announced a Constitutional Conference to be held in London in July/August 1953.
27. Leading up to the 1953 Constitutional Conference, Awo (of AG) and Zik (of NCNC) present a united Southern front, jointly writing to the British Government that:
"This ...is the last constitution conferring dependent status whic we are willing to operate. The Constitution will come to an
end...in 1956 or by earlier breakdown or abrogation. If any of these...events occur we demand that Britain, in all friendly
spirit, should accord us Dominion status within the British Commonwealth of Nations. If she refuses to do so we would
unhesitatingly declare our independence and proceed to assert it whatever the consequences might be."
28. Also leading up to the 1953 Conference, the North is equally determined NOT to accept self-government in 1956 without basic structural changes in the political system, and was adamant on the phraseology "policy of self-government as soon as practicable.".
29. At the conference in July 30/August 22, 1953, the British Government REFUSED to grant or fix a date for self-government to Nigeria as a whole, but accepted the principle of scheduled self-government for 1956 on a REGIONAL level. Also accepted were the principles of federalism and the allocation of residual powers to regions, with "premiers" as heads of the regional governents. It also decided to separate Lagos from Western Region (with Lagos as capital of Federation) and Southern Cameroons from the Eastern Region as a quasi-federal territory. Finally, a Constitutional Conference was scheduled for 1956 (to be "no later than August 31, 1956", but eventually scheduled for September 19, 1956) to further discuss self-governance/full independence.
30. There was another Constitutional Conference in early 1954 - the resumed conference in Lagos - to tinker with the 1953 Conference decisions.
31. With Sir John MacPherson (Governor of Nigeria since 1948) now titled Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria, Awo, Zik and Ahmadu became Premiers of their Western, Eastern and Northern Regions respectively on October 1, 1954 (the start of the 1954 Constittution), with Awo holding their positions till December 1959; and Ahmadu Bello till he was assassinated in the January 15, 1966 military coup. Zik became President of the Nigerian Senate January 1 - October 1, 1960; Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria November 16, 1960 - October 1, 1963; and President of Federal Republic of Nigeria October 1, 1963 - January 16, 1966.
32. In Mid-1955, MacPherson was succeeded by Sir. James Robertson as (last colonial) Governor-General, giving way (on November 15, 1960) to Zik (installed on November 16) as the first African Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria.
33. Meanwhile, as the 1956 Conference drew near, on May 30, 1956, the Northern Region suddenly announced that it was ready for self-government - but in 1959. Awo ("we seek not to coerce the North") welcomed the new Northern position without changing the 1956 date for self-government for the Federation, while Zik (in June 1956) proposed self-government for the Southern regions in 1956, followed by a three-year transition period to self-government for the whole Federation in Nigeria in 1959.
34. Finally, the Constitutional Conference which was scheduled for 1956 at the 1953 Conference was postponed to May 23/June 26 1957 (see #11 above) due to Zik's Foster-Sutton palaver which started with announcement in London of a Commission of Enquiry on July 24, 1956 and did not end until a publication of the Tribunal's report on January 16, 1957; on January 19 NCNC executive announcing that Zik had agreed to "transfer all of his rights and interest in the Bank to the Eastern Nigerian Government which will henceforth own the African Continental Bank"; on that same day (January 19), a proclamation was issued by Regional Governor Stapledon dissolving the Eastern Region House of Assembly and calling for general election there for March 15, 1957, in which NCNC won majority seats (64 seats, reduced from 72), with AG increasing to 13 seats (from 1), and UNIP having 5 seats (down from 11), and the remaining 2 seats won by Independents who supported the NCNC.
35. Following this 1957 London conference, the East and the Western Regions achieved self-government on August 8, 1957 and the Northern Region achieved its own on March 15, 1959, Finally, the entire Federation obtained Independence on October 1, 1960.
So Enahoro started the ball of motions on self-government/independence rolling on Tuesday, March 31, 1953; Akintola moved the ball further on Tuesday, March 26, 1957, exactly 52 years ago today; but neither of them moved the final Independence motion that was on Thursday, January 14, 1960. We will have to fish out the Hansards of the Federal House of Representatives of that fateful day to get at the Third Musketeer.
There you have: the facts, as different from fantasy.
If there any facts that I have muddled up, the act has not been deliberate. If there are vital facts that I have omitted, please call them to my attention, and I might revise my priors.
Best wishes all.
Bolaji Aluko
Burtonsville, MD, USA
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