THE BETRAYED AND THE BETRAYER: CASE OF DR. NNAMDI AZIKIWE AND CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO, PUTTING EVENTS IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE

The Nigeria Youth Movement (NYM) to which Azikiwe joined in 1937 upon his return to Nigeria was founded on the precepts of "gradualism" and "accomodationism." Azikiwe wanted to move it to a more engaged politics of "opposition nationalism" based on his own exposure and orientation. There was a clash of ideas and methods. The grandees of the NYM, whose engagement with the colonial authorities was all about the opening of elite spaces and opportunities for Africans thought that Azikiwe's ideas, methods and orientation was "too dangerous" and was going to rock their apple stands. This upstart from America of all places did not conform to the call of the older generation with their "ginkana parties" and "egbon nationalism" to navigate elite interests gradually that would see a few over the years occupy "European positions."

Azikiwe wanted a transfer, not just of positions, but of power to Africans. He broke ideologically with the NYM, resurrected the worsted "lion of Lagos," Herbert Macaulay, and with his control of the first powerful network of indigenous newspapers awakened a new generation of Africans to the possibility of their sovereignty. His appeal was not to the "Lagos elite" of the established Saro merchant class and professionals with its deeply Yoruba roots in Lagos, but to a growing middle class of young people - clerks, traders, artisans, and those who never had a voice until Azikiwe arrived - the "youth of Africa." Many of these happened to be the new urban Igbo, and there was in equal number, the new young, urban youth from all over Nigeria who flocked around Azikiwe, and essentially "retired" the old NYM grandees from relevance. In 1947, the movement which Azikiwe had spearheaded was at that vital turning point of creating a truly "nationalist" movement. It was also in this period, following the fierce debates about the coverage of the Atlantic treaty which Azikiwe and his followers had led, which compelled the United Nations (UN) to adopt the charter of human rights, and which gave grounds for decolonization, that the British began to seriously discuss what they called the "Zik problem."

In his notes to William Blackburne, Harold Cooper, the M16 man in Lagos, working under the cover as the Director of Public Relations in the newly created Public Relations Office set out in a memo the basic plan of action to deal with this "problem of Zik." He basically said that it would be futile at that stage in 1947, given the momentum Azikiwe had generated in nationalist struggle to continue to use suppression or even physical elimination, as it would not only anger and embolden the young nationalists who had flocked around Zik, but might give greater momentum to Azikiwe. He recommended a strategic targeting and recruitment of what he called the "malleable margin" of the young nationalists and other "progressives" and use them to counter Azikiwe's work and influence. That is how that lingo had survived - the difference between the "nationalists" and the "progressives." And we know those who call themselves "progressives." But at that time, it was a code word for those whom the British found amenable for a partnership - that "malleable margin" who were then promised power in postcolonial Nigeria under British guidance.

They began to be called "progressives" and "moderates" while Azikiwe and the nationalists were often described as "radical" and "extremist" in the British colonial press and official communications. It was in this period that Awolowo arrived: suddenly rich, powerful, and influential. From the bankrupted produce trader and newspaper reporter, and indigent law student in London, Awo came home suddenly, a successful newspaper publisher with a thriving law firm in Ibadan, and with money to organize politically in 1947. Where did it all come from? That's a question for another day.

However, what is relevant here is that (a) in 1947, the British colonial government helped to fund and organize what became the Action Group (AG) and the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). In fact, they tried to broker a partnership between them, which eventually floundered during negotiations over the question of who would lead the alliance. As a matter of fact, one of the key highpoints of that partnership was the use of Bode Thomas as the lawyer to free Ahmadu Rabah (later Ahmadu Bello) from the charges of stealing brought against him by the Sokoto Native Authority in 1947;
(b) it was precisely in this moment that the British helped to circulate the ideas of an unwholesome Nigeria with its regionalist character rather than a nationalist Nigeria with a common mission. Political statements from the likes of Awolowo and Bello helped to solidify this idea of a Nigeria of "differences" who must relate to each other on those differences, while Azikiwe was writing and shouting against the British ploy, with their local agents to "Pakistanize" Nigeria - in reference to what had happened in that period with India's partition with which the British had threatened the nationalists, and
(c) the nationalist movement was strategically undermined, broken, and penetrated in that moment. All attempts to push Zik to declare an armed struggle which would have provided the British the final excuse to destroy the leadership of the nationalist movement failed, and it continued towards home rule - including the use of the Forster-Sutton commission. As a matter of fact in one of the most revealing letters ever written by Awolowo to his British masters over the "problem of Zik" in 1957 towards the London conferences, Awolowo stated clearly that the British should no longer worry about Zik. "we damaged him seriously with the inquiry" referring to the Forster-Sutton commission.

The British organized the Ibadan "carpet-crossing" fiasco of 1951 in its bid to prevent Zik from leading a government, and providing the nationalists a ground from which to determine the outcomes of the transition towards decolonization: the strategic capacity was aided by Awo's minder, Mr. Foot, who was almost assassinated by one of Azikiwe's followers, a clerk in the Secretariat, who was arrested and sent to the Yaba asylum. But two things later happened: Azikiwe as leader of opposition in the parliament forced Awolowo to nationalize the Western Nigerian civil service, a situation which damaged Awo's standing with his British friends. A brewing party in-fight with the old guard that wanted to formalize the earlier alliance with the NPC increasingly grew with Awo still unwilling to "concede" leadership the "North." It all came to a head at the AG party conference in Jos in 1962. But this was all down the line. As it turned out, by 1957 Azikiwe and the nationalists had been thoroughly outmaneuvered by the British, both at the London conferences and at home, and the roles played by Awolowo and Bello in this regard, are all too clear. But a weakened Zik was further undermined with the British-instigated intra-party crisis that rocked the nationalist party in 1958, leading to the 1959 election.
Azikiwe only managed to resolve that crisis by the force of his personality and kept the nationalist party together to go into the 1959 elections. Awolowo on the other hand, running on full steam on the banner of a regional party, had been promised premiership of Nigeria if he could stop Zik in the South. The elections came. Zik's party won the South convincingly. But the Nationalist party allies, Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), suffered voter suppression; imprisonment of its candidates in the elections, and the result was that in places where NEPU and the Nationalist alliance should have won in the North, the NPC was declared unopposed and returned. At the end of the counts, although the Nationalist party secured the plurality of votes nationwide - that is, although Azikiwe and the nationalist party remained the most popular party north and South - they could not lead the government of Nigeria because of the ways that the British had helped to gerrymander the votes from 1956 to that 1959 election.
Awolowo was not a target of the British. He was in the large scheme of that struggle of no particular threat to the British. He was what they called a "moderate" and a "progressive." The British organized, funded, and supported the AG! As was clear in the nature of Azikiwe's file in the British archives even today, Zik was the central issue in the African Liberation movement in the British colonial imagination, and all levers were pulled to stop him. At the end of the 1959 election, Awolowo and his faction of the AG party offered to work with Zik, while another faction wanted to work with the NPC. The Eastern Committee of the NCNC opted to work with Awolowo and form a government. The Western committee of the party however vowed to leave the NCNC if the party chose to work with Awo. Azikiwe listened carefully, and he made a choice, and he was clear about it on the following principles:
(a) as a responsible party leader, he had to listen to his party, and navigate carefully particularly with a party that had just come out of a national crisis,
(b) as the leader of the nationalist movement, it would be irresponsible to isolate the North by working with Awolowo and establishing what would essentially be a government of the Southern parties,
(c) it would be irresponsible given the fragility of Nigeria to allow an essentially regional party like the NPC to go it alone in forming a government of a nation in rapid political transition. It would need the nationalist party to provide the backbone required to establish a postcolonial government in the general interest,
(d) It was difficult to trust Awolowo and his men, given past experiences, and
(e) tomorrow was another day. The nationalists would bid their time and take over government without the interference of the British through the democratic process. All that calculation was based on a very rational premise. Meanwhile, in a bid to reposition himself to the new political reality and circumvent the crisis brewing inside his own party with the old guard essentially, and having become embittered with what Azikiwe always knew as "British chicanery," Awolowo opposed the proposed security partnership with Britain, and became a target from then on, particularly as he began to build alliances with Nkrumah by 1960/61.
Awolowo was thus smashed with the same methods that the British used to smash the man they called "uppity Zik." But this was because by 1962, Awolowo began to work with the so-called "young turks" of his party - S.G. Ikoku, Akpata, Bola Ige, and so on to create a national political opposition. It should be clear that when he was confronted with his own party crisis, Awo lacked the maturity, capacity, and political capital and experience to steer his party aright, unlike Zik, who showed formidable leadership and control when his party spinned into a national crisis in 1958, and Awo and his party were celebrating how "undisciplined" and "disorganized" the NCNC was.

It is important to keep Nigeria's nationalist history in perspective beyond all the new fangled mythologizing that now take place in an attempt to sanitize Nigeria's national narrative.

Brb

CL.

How can a Westerner betray an Easterner over the premiership of the Western Region, especially when both belonged to different political parties both competing for the same position?

I repeat, some tribe of people exited the womb already feeling marginalized and entitled to a delusional loyalty that was never promised.

And as a correction, Azikiwe did not wait to contribute his quota as leader of opposition in the Western Region, rather he hurried back to the East and managed to replace an Eastern lawmaker, and from there usurped the Premiership of Eyo Ita to be become leader of the Eastern government.

To lead was more important to Azikiwe than to just be a member of parliament either in the West or East.

(b) it was precisely in this moment that the British helped to circulate the ideas of an unwholesome Nigeria with its regionalist character rather than a nationalist Nigeria with a common mission. Political statements from the likes of Awolowo and Bello helped to solidify this idea of a Nigeria of "differences" who must relate to each other on those differences, while Azikiwe was writing and shouting against the British ploy, with their local agents to "Pakistanize" Nigeria - in reference to what had happened in that period with India's partition with which the British had threatened the nationalists,

To all those who hate that they share the same country with Fulani or Yoruba or Igbo or Ijaw or Tiv or Christian or Muslim, you can pile up your blames on the grave of Azikiwe who was too consumed by his desire to rule a Nigeria that was inseparable. A "pakistanization" of our own India, would have saved us the eventual war and anarchy that has become recurrent.

The obvious divide that others saw became invisible to a man who was overtly ambitious to be sensible. He even outlined punitive measures should the North attempt to separate from a country that has ensured such separation would be illegal. These same punitive measures of economic blockade and emasculation, were eventually borrowed to deal with Azikiwe's own region when it tried to commit an act that Azikiwe himself had ensured was illegal.

Yorubas are treacherous. I have lived and dealt with them all my life. They will betray you at the slightest opportunity. More so, they are cowardly. Trust Yorubas at your peril.

Is that why your name sounds nauseous? Oruko lo n ro'mo (the name of a child predicts his person)... IKEMEKURUNA

Pls how did awo die?

Ikemefuna44:
Yorubas are treacherous. I have lived and dealt with them all my life. They will betray you at the slightest opportunity. More so, they are cowardly. Trust Yorubas at your peril.

.

Tribal warlords will feast on themselves on this thread

Watch out


Meanwhile

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Marriage of inconvenience can never produce a good child. Disintegration is the way forward. It happened in the formal USSR, today those countries are enjoying themselves.

Blame this and that, for how long. Story way some of us did not know nothing about, we are fighting over it. Enough of all this, let go separate way and form a good nation for ourselves that is not colonised either by west or east so that we can have peace of mind.

Just imagine the paragraph this foolish Igbo used to introduce Awolowo. This fool selling Azikwe as his alpha n omega had forgotten Azikwe had a superior, his superior who happens to Herbert Macaulay.

You. An clearly see how the bigoted Igbo evaded saying anything about Herbert Macaulay cos there is no well he'd with exposing the factAzikwe was subordinate to in all n every ramifications, be it in intelligence, achievement etc.

teufelein:

They began to be called "progressives" and "moderates" while Azikiwe and the nationalists were often described as "radical" and "extremist" in the British colonial press and official communications. It was in this period that Awolowo arrived: suddenly rich, powerful, and influential. From the bankrupted produce trader and newspaper reporter, and indigent law student in London, Awo came home suddenly, a successful newspaper publisher with a thriving law firm in Ibadan, and with money to organize politically in 1947. Where did it all come from? That's a question for another day.

teufelein:

Why not provide direct link to where this was culled from so we can attest if it was written by an Igbo, write further on the failures of Azikwe who in history turn out to be a colossal failure.

loveth360:
Pls how did awo die?

Awo died at an old age of 78 in his ikenne home.

loveth360:
Pls how did awo die?

Lol.

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF OBASANJO, WHO GOD HAS DELIBERATELY SPARED FOR NIGERIA AND FOR GOOD PURPOSES, I AM YET TO EXPERIENCE MODERN POLITICIANS THAT ARE AS ASTUTE AND FOCUS AS AB, NA & OA. THE POLITICIANS WE ARE NOW SEEING ARE ALL MISCHIEF MAKERS.

Why bringing all thesw old cases up again

Please are Igbos not also treacherous?

Ikemefuna44:
Yorubas are treacherous. I have lived and dealt with them all my life. They will betray you at the slightest opportunity. More so, they are cowardly. Trust Yorubas at your peril.

Tueeh. It has been in their blood no wonder, the north gave them inconsequential Gov general post

Pple were don die who na still dey fight for there head, Pls People allow them to rest in peace na!