First and foremost, it is important to have a basic knowledge of the boardgame called Chess.
The game of chess is a two-player boardgame which consists of sixteen pieces made up of one King, one Queen, two knights, two bishops, two rooks (also called castles) and eight pawns.

The game dates as far back as the 7th century and have been a favourite past time of several kings and emperors, who played the game in a bid to sharpen their intelligence and improve their battle strategies. Mastery of the game of chess requires tact, intelligence, wit, and, most importantly, patience. It can be tagged a mind game. Enough said about the game, though there can hardly be enough said about chess.

Indigenous politics came into limelight from 1960, when Nigeria gained independence. Being a rookie in the art of chess (Nigeria politics), tribalism resulted in the formation of three political parties: Nigerian People Congress (NPC) -- a Hausa/Fulani party, National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) -- an Eastern region, consisting of mainly Igbos, party-- and Action Group (AG) -- a Western region, consisting of mainly Yorubas, party. Due to the lead in population, the Northern-majority party, NPC, captured the most seats in Parliament and controlled the political sector of the nation, with Sir Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello becoming Prime Minister and Premier of Northern region respectively. On the chessboard, the duo could be represented as the King and Queen. Although the Prime Minister enjoyed more political authority when compared to a Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello (due to his position as Saraduna/Sultan of Sokoto) is represented as the then king on the chessboard.

The opposition comprised of the Eastern and Western region-- though they were not in coalition--, with the then President/Governor-General, Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe (of the Eastern region) and Chief Obafemi Awolowo (of the Western region) serving as King and Queen respectively on the other side of the chessboard.
During a game of chess, when a pawn successfully gets into the 'royal territory' of the opposition, it is given the privilege of transforming into a member of royalty (ranging from a rook to a Queen). This principle occurred on the opposition end of the chessboard as Samuel Ladoke Akintola, upon selection as Premier of the Western region, took the privilege of becoming a 'Queen' and tried changing certain precepts of the Action Group (AG) party. This didn't go well with the older Queen (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) who sought to use his power as leader of the AG party to knock the younger Queen (Ladoke Akintola) off the chessboard. This caused a bloody unrest in the opposition tent and due to the bone of contention being a pledge of coalition to the ruling government, it waded into the turbidous territory and knocked the older Queen off the chessboard thus installing the younger as Queen Supreme of the opposition.
Law 15 of the 48 Laws of Power(Robert Greene) states: Crush your enemy totally!
In ancient times, when an Emperor took over an empire, he slaughtered all loyalists of the previous regime in a bid to curb all forms of rebellion.
Applying this law, Ladoke Akintola disbanded the Action Group (AG) party and established a new party-- Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). Out of loyalty for its installation, the Queen Supreme, led a marriage of its child, Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) to the ruling government party Nigerian People Congress (NPC). This coalition left the Eastern region party, National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and the rebels of the Action Group (AG) in the opposition.

The game was however brought to a abrupt halt when a group of military officers knocked the chess pieces off the chessboard, crushed certain pieces to dust and began playing checkers on the board. The pieces crushed were chieftains of the NPC-NNDP coalition. Due to the military officers (involved) being of Eastern region origin, the coup (which was tagged a tribal coup) angered the Northern and Western region.

Though the game of chess and checkers have lots of similarities, the rules of play are quite different. From 1966 to 1977, the military played the game of checkers with the politics of the nation. The dictates of the Head of State […]


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