Thread by @RemiAdekoya1

Episode 2 of pre-Independence Day #NaijaPoliticalHistory series.

Today, we'll look at political developments in late 1940s Nigeria and roots of North vs South as well as Igbo vs Yoruba conflict during that period, conflicts that were key drivers of 1950s ethnic politics in 🇳🇬.

As we concluded yesterday, following the successful 1945 general strike, the British feared a rise in Soviet-inspired communist ideology and further radicalization within Nigerian labour unions. So they decided on a program of economic, social and constitutional development.

Thus emerged the 1947 Richards’ Constitution which was a landmark development, ushering in a new era in Nigerian political history and triggering a chain of events ultimately ending in the triumph of ethnic politics.

The constitution introduced "regionalism" as a solution.

It established semi-legislative bodies in the three regions - North, East and West- based on elections from local native administrations. These regional legislatures could then choose representatives to a central legislative council which would include Northerners for first time.

Awo and Zik both criticized the Richards’ Constitution, but from contradictory viewpoints.

Zik criticized regionalism as a "divide-and-rule" strategy meant to ethnicize Nigerian politics, Awo said it did not go far enough in acknowledging Nigeria’s ethnic diversity.

In 1947, Awolowo argued that rather than just 3 regional assemblies "as many as 30 to 40 regional Houses of Assembly would not be too many in the future United States of Nigeria."

Each ethnic community "must be autonomous with regard to its own internal affairs," Awo argued.

Interestingly, Awolowo’s 1947 vision is today’s reality.

He spoke of "30 to 40" regional House of Assembly when there were just 3. Nigeria is currently divided into 36 states with their own Houses of Assembly.

While Ahmadu Bello had not yet emerged as the dominant voice in Northern Nigerian politics at the time the Richards’ Constitution was introduced, Northern leaders strongly supported regionalization with the fallout from the new arrangements only strengthening this tendency.

As stated earlier, the 1947 constitution incorporated Northerners into a central legislature for the first time, forcing Northern elites to face a future in which their region was linked to the South. Yet the North was lagging behind in socio-economic and educational development.

The Richards’ Constitution was a stark reminder of this reality when it emerged there were not enough qualified Northerners to properly represent the region in the planned central legislature or to take posts in the Northern Region’s civil service, staffed mostly by Southerners.

Believing a centralized state would seal Southern domination of their region, Northern elites favoured allocation of as much power as possible to regions and as little as possible to a central authority.

At a meeting of the Nigerian Legislative Council in March 1948, Tafawa Balewa, who later became deputy leader of the Northern People's Congress (NPC) Nigeria’s first prime minister, expressed Northern sentiments at the time in no uncertain terms:

"Many deceive themselves by thinking Nigeria is one, this is wrong. I'm sorry to say that this presence of unity is artificial...Southern tribes pouring into the North in ever increasing numbers do not mix with Northern people. We look upon them as invaders," said Tafawa Balewa.

By this time, Obafemi Awolowo had co-founded the Egbe Omo Odùduwà, a pan-Yoruba organization meant to foster a sense of one-ness among the Yoruba-speaking peoples who had historically identified with their city of origin rather than as "Yorubas."

Meanwhile, the Ibo Federal Union had been established in 1944, also with a view to engendering pan-Igbo unity. In the North, the Bauchi General Improvement Union was established in 1943. This later morphed into Ahmadu Bello's Northern People’s Congress (NPC) party in 1949.

NPC aimed to promote Northern unity in the fight to maintain regional autonomy for the North to stave off the Southern domination its members feared. NPC was conservative and did not wish to challenge the authority of existing colonial structures as Southern political groups did.

The majority of Northern leaders considered the main enemy to be the better-educated condescending Southern Nigerian, not the British colonialist. For all these ethnic and/or regionally-based organizations, the regionalism of the Richards’ Constitution was a welcome development

The regional Houses of Assembly created strengthened ethnically-based organizations by giving them something specific and tangible to fight for on a regional level. Meanwhile, Nigeria got a new Governor-General, John Macpherson, in April 1948.

A significant event deserving special attention during this period was the "Lagos Press War" of 1948 between Azikiwe’s newspapers, in particular the West African Pilot and the Daily Service, which had by now become the mouthpiece of the Yoruba Egbe Omo Odùduwà.

From the inception of the Egbe in Nigeria (with Awolowo as Secretary-General) it faced accusations from Azikiwe and his media of ethnicizing politics.

Zik chose to ignore the fact an Ibo Federal Union with very similar objectives for Igbos already existed at the time.

For most of 1948, the rival papers were involved in a bitter war of words involving personal attacks often tainted with ethnic undertones.

Egbe leaders were furious when Azikiwe supported the establishment of a rival Yoruba socio-cultural organization: the Yoruba Federal Union.

June 1948, a Daily Service editorial was published titled: "Nnamdi Azikiwe is warned not to strain the patience of Yoruba people." The (Yoruba) author stated:

"The picture that leaves me bewildered is that of Zik, an out-and-out Ibo inaugurating a Yoruba Federal Union!...

..It may be said in mitigation that [Zik] had but the poorest materials out of which to erect the Yoruba Federal Union, having only managed to scrape together the waifs and strays of the Yoruba race…he had no Yoruba unions to ‘federate’ for no Yoruba Union would submit to

the degradation of being federated by Zik. Nevertheless, the daring of the man is staggering…by attempting so openly to create divisions among the Yorubas, he is approaching the zero hour of his chequered political career. He is playing with the trigger of a loaded gun,

the muzzle of which is pointed ominously toward his own forehead. Can anyone imagine a Yoruba man in Onitsha or Nnewi organizing an Ibo Federal Union?"

By September 1948, Yoruba-Igbo hostilities had escalated so badly, the British feared violence.

Thread continues in few mins.

These fears were intensified by news both Igbo and Yoruba radicals had started buying up all the available cutlasses in Lagos in readiness for clashes.

Police presence was increased on the streets of the city.

In response to alarms raised about mass cutlass purchases by Igbos, Azikiwe declared the "brandishing of cutlasses and machetes were only for propaganda purposes", a rather unconvincing explanation.

By September 8, hostilities had reached a fever pitch, with a Pilot editorial arguing that:

"Henceforth the cry must be one of battle against the Egbe Omo Odùduwà, its leaders, at home and abroad, uphill and down, in the streets of Nigeria and in the residence of its advocates.

The Egbe Omo Odùduwà is the enemy of Nigeria; it must be crushed to the earth…There is no going back, until the Fascist organization of Sir Adeyemo Alakija [leader of Egbe] has been dismembered," argued Zik's West African Pilot.

At a mass meeting of Igbos in Lagos, it was declared personal attacks on Azikiwe would be considered attacks on the "Igbo nation". The situation calmed down towards the end of 1948 after the intervention of the colonial government.

Historian James Coleman asserted:

"The most significant outcome of the press war was the politicization of the Ibo Federal Union and the Egbe. In December 1948, the Igbo Federal Union morphed into the Ibo State Union to organize the ‘Igbo linguistic group into a political unit

in accordance with the NCNC freedom charter’…. Azikiwe was elected Igbo State Union president. Azikiwe was elected Igbo State Union president."

This opened Azikiwe up to accusations from his detractors, including Awolowo, that he was in fact, first and foremost, an Igbo leader

and not the Pan-nationalist he was claiming to be and that his NCNC party was essentially an Igbo-dominated outfit. Attempting to shed light on the psychological factors driving Igbo-Yoruba rivalry at the time, Coleman pointed to Yoruba elite resentment against the rising status

of Igbos in the 1940s. Due to the early educational advantages of the Yorubas, up until the mid-1930s, a disproportionate amount of the higher positions in the civil service and business were held by Yorubas.

Additionally, until Azikiwe and his NCNC emerged, Yorubas had dominated political activity in Lagos. But by the late 1940s, the Igbos were fast eliminating the educational gap and becoming increasingly assertive in business and [Lagos] politics. This vexed many Yoruba elites.

As for North-South tensions, we have mentioned the fear Northern elites had because of the educational and socio-economic gap between their region and the South. The Northern People’s Congress (NPC) leadership believed the North could only be saved by Northerners.

Common opposition to the more advanced Southerners, perceived as arrogant and aggressive, created a Northern unity that transcended social class. It is against this background of North-South and Yoruba-Igbo tension that we must view the post-1948 shift to regional separatism.

A lot of these tensions were, in fact, intra-elite tensions which were then transposed onto entire ethnic groups by leaders who asserted they spoke on behalf of millions of people. This is not to say there were no real everyday tensions between regular Northerners and Southerners

or between Igbos and Yorubas. Leaders cannot simply manufacture grievances. They have to resonate with everyday people. But it was definitely the case that elite conflicts and rival interests were presented as ethnic community rivalries by politicians.

To be continued tomorrow!