thatareaguy:


It wasn't successful... One could say that if it was, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Wrong! The coup succeeded in effecting a change of government. The only downside was that the primary coup plotters didn’t form the new government. Personally, I’m not convinced things would have been done differently if the original “revolutionaries” had taken over the government after the fall of the Balewa government.

Elemosho478:
We led that independence mission but Azikiwe betrayed Awolowo later to joined the north just because of jealousy and power he sold the south to the North why are people not talking about this ?

Is that what your history teacher taught you?

PFRB:
Guess how young they were then. She to our present youths.

She was 47 then

Sirjamo:
Zik was a great man who believed in strategic alliance and deployment of intellect to pursue a course and achieve a goal. Ojukwu and Kanu would have gone to such a place with sub - machine guns and RPGs.

Well, we saw how that alliance worked out...lol

Wow, That was lovely to behold. very courageour woman. Our Girls of nowadays can only lead you to hotels and night clubs

Amuocha:
She contributed to the terrible mess in Nigeria's political history.

Nonsense.

can you accentuate the way she contributed to the suppose terribe mess in nigeria's political history

johnie:

This was the NCNC delegation led by Azikiwe (Igbo) that visited London to protest the Richards Constitution of 1945, the two men, Prince Adeleke Adedoyin (Ijebu Yoruba) and Dr Abu Bakar Ibiyinka Olorun-Nimbe (Ilorin Yoruba), were members of the delegation. Others were Malam Bukar Dipcharima (Kanuri), Chief Nyong Essien (Ibibio), P M Kale (Bakweri Cameroonian), and Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (Yoruba).


They were also relatively young then

She was 47

Zik was 43

Prince Obafemi Adedoyin was 35


Abubakar Olorun-Nimbe  was 39

Nyong Essien, probably the oldest, was 55

The original poster has turned it upside that it was Fela's mother that led them to London, whereas it was actually Zik that led the delegation. I don't know when some people will stop twisting history and facts.

OyiboOyibo:


Is that what your history teacher taught you?

Azikiwe neglected Awolowo that they both fought for Independence to form allegiance with the north just because of power, he sold the south to the North and betrayed Yoruba but Yoruba never be a bitch and accuse igbo of anything but it is Igbo that is playing the Victim Card today. Igbo is a tribe of Traitors, losers and envious souls Everything that is wrong with Nigeria started from them but they are the one playing the Victim Card today

The original Nigerian feminist

Good old days before the ipob party (NCNC) led by Nnamdi Azikwe and funded by okotie eboh allied with northern political party (NPC) against the Action group (AG) led by obafemi Awolowo


Flatinoooos are the serial betrayal from the beginning but their Indomie generation wl keep on blaming Yorubas for their misfortune

We go show dem pepper

From the pictures, that place is not London!

That place is the thick forest of Obalende at that time!

The white man is Sir Macpherson, the Governor - General as at that time!!

Mandeyy:
The original poster has turned it upside that it was Fela's mother that led them to London, whereas it was actually Zik that led the delegation. I don't know when some people will stop twisting history and facts.

You still don't get the point ? When Azikiwe worked with South West to fought for independence why did he betray the south and then joined with the North? Azikiwe was a traitor and he was the one that sold the south to the North but no one is talking about it

May thunder fire Azikiwe wherever he is

Wao

enemyofprogress:
No be today we dey lead Igbo people for front


ADVICE PLS!!!

Abeg how can I fry my chicken without it doing shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I'm owing my landlord 2years rent.

AM WAITING OOO

Ogbeni I have cash u today. Ngwa, bring that chicken plus ya two years rent money and come and see me, ozigbo!

sapele914:
Failures will always have an excuse,I guess the civil war of 1861-1865 messed up the United States of America?

America’s civil war was a battle between what is right versus what is wrong. It was a battle of good versus evil. Nigeria’s civil war on the other hand was an ego battle. It was a war that should never have happened in the first instance. The events that led to the civil war should also never have happened. The combinations of the pre-civil war events and the actual civil war is why we are so divided and underdeveloped today.

They betrayed Yoruba from the Beginning and sold off the South to the North but today they are the one playing the Victim Card when they are really the Genesis of everything that is wrong with Nigeria. Igbo is a tribe of Traitors but they will tell you today that Yoruba is the problem

Mace0lane:
Zik was a foolish bastard that sold out the south to become a northern slave though he was gifted option to rule like a king. Zik is cursed even in his grave.

Haha oginni biko that is too harsh and rude. Every tribe celebrate their hero but see how you rubbished Zik this is too embarrassing.

Tadeus:
God show us mercy nah. See der face bah. Der age range is 23 to 30, and dey are fighting for independence. D present day youths at dis age are busy struggling to do yahoo and buy Benz while some are stil writing jamb���

No thanks to our wicked leaders & some senseless youths

Truth be told, the damage done by wicked leaders is huge & they will not stop until we stop them.

Since independent, same people recycling themselves, their children, relatives, & some idiots choose to be singing their praises just because of crumbles

sparog:
We were too young for independence then, Nigeria would have been better if independence had been delayed till much later when the Brits had fully developed the country. We got our independence without war on a platter of gold and we ran the beautiful country that was gifted to us to the ground.


What a shame

It's like we share same opinion on what really course setback for us in this country.unripe Independence and our culture.

seunmsg:


America’s civil war was a battle of what is right versus what is wrong. It was a battle of good versus evil. Nigeria’s civil war on the other hand was an ego battle. It was a war that should never have happened in the first instance. The events that led to the civil war should also never have happened. The combinations of the pre-civil war events and the actual civil war is why we are so divided and underdeveloped today.

This is not correct!

Go n check history very well to understand Genesis of the problem of this country

Unknown Soldier- Fela Kuti

Make you no go anywhere
Just wait make I tell you something

[Chorus]
Fela, you don come again!

I never come again
I still live dey faraway
Make you wait till I reach where I dey go

[Chorus]
Where you dey go?

Make I reach...

Make I reach
Don't ask me
Wait and see

I say, I say, I say...

This thing wey happen
Happen for my country
Na big big thing
First time in the whole world
If you hear the name, you go know
Government magic
Tell me the name now

[Chorus]
Government magic!

Them go dabaru everything
Them go turn green into white
Them go turn red into blue
Water dey go, water dey come
Water dey go, water dey come
Them go turn electric to candle
Them go turn electric to candle
Government magic
Government magic

I see dey come
Small, small

Look o, look o

[Chorus]
Left, right, left, right, left, right, left!

One thousand soldiers them dey come
People dey wonder, dey wonder, dey wonder
One more time: people dey wonder, dey wonder, dey wonder

Stevie Wonder dey there too
Na one week after FESTAC too
And dey broadcast on American satellite
Around that time too now, I say to you

Where these one thousand soldiers them dey go?
Look o
Na Fela house Kalakuta
Them don reach the place, them dey wait
Them dey wait for...

[Chorus]
Order!

Now listen

[Chorus]
Left, right, left, right, left, right, left!

Them surround the place, kwam kwam kwam, them dey wait
Wait them helmet and them guns
And them petrol and them matches
Then again...

[Chorus]
Stand at ease!

Fela dey for house
Beko dey there too
Them mama dey there too
Beautiful people dey there too
Frenchman dey there too
Press man dey there too
One-fifty of us dey there too

Then suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly...

[Chorus]
Jaba, jaba...
Jubu, jubu...
Jebe, jebe...
Jawa, jawa...

Them dey break, yes
Them dey steal, yes
Them dey loot, yes
Them dey Bleep some of the women by force, yes
Them dey rape, yes
Them dey burn, yes
Them dey burn, yes
Them dey burn, yes
Them commot one student's eye, yes
Them break some some head
Them break some some head

Them throw my mama
Seventy-eight-year-old mama

Political mama
Ideological mama
Influential mama...

Them throw my mama out from window
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama

Them carry everybody
Them carry everybody go inside jail

[Chorus]
Fall out!

Everybody dey inside jail
We dey wait twenty-seven days
Them lock us
Press dey shout
Radio dey ring
People dey talk
Them go burn Fela house

Wettin this Fela do?
This government e bad o
Wetin this Fela do?
Fela talk about soldiers
Flogging civilians for streets
Fela talk about government
Wasting money for FESTAC
Wetin this Fela do?
This government e bad o
People start to talk o
Government start to shake o

Then suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly...

Government bring instruments of magic
Them bring inquiry
Them bring two men
One soldier, one Justice
The name of Justice: Mr. Justice Agwu Anya
The other Justice: Mr. Justice Dosunmu

Them start magic
Them seize my house wey them don burn
Them seize my land
Them drive all the people wey live in area
Two thousand citizens
Them make them all homeless now
Them start magic
Them start magic

Them bring flame, them bring hat
Them conjure, them bring rabbit
Them bring egg, them bring smoke
Them dey scream, them dey fall
Them conjure, spirit catch them
Them dey fall, them dey scream
Them dey shout
Them dey, them dey say

[Chorus]
Unknown soldier!

Na him do am

Government magic
I get some information for you
I get some information for you
That my mama wey you kill
She fought for universal adult suffrage
That my mama wey you kill
She fought for universal adult suffrage
That my mama wey you kill
She is the only mother of this country
That my mama wey you kill
She is the only mother of Nigeria

Which kind injustice is this?
Wetin concern government inside?
If na unknown soldier
I said, wetin concern government inside?
If na unknown soldier
We get unknown police
We get unknown soldier
We get unknown civilian
All is equal to unknown government

We get unknown police
Them go kill nine students
We get unknown civilian
Them go kill two soldiers
We get unknown soldier
I say unknown police
And then unknown soldier
And then unknown civilian
All is equal to unknown government

Them turn green into red
Them turn blue into white
Them turn green into blue

I'm finished, mother

adeniyi65:



It's like we share same opinion on what really course setback for us in this country.unripe Independence and our culture.

You are right to some extent

"Them throw my mama
Seventy-eight-year-old mama

Political mama
Ideological mama
Influential mama...

Them throw my mama out from window
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama"... Fela

AngelicBeing:
l wonder why the recent tribal wars on Nairaland, like seriously, and the politicians are eating chicken, Turkey and fried rice and they sleep in cosy hotel at Abuja and Nigerians are fighting themselves online

because they are all stupid

the inclination of a typical black man is to think short sighted and not reason properly.

You can see that exemplified in Nigeria

If not, is it not better to build a country THAT YOU ALL WILL BE PROUD OF than to form tribal superiority


I don tire for Nigeria foolishness

Elemosho478:


Azikiwe neglected Awolowo that they both fought for Independence to form allegiance with the north just because of power, he sold the south to the North and betrayed Yoruba but Yoruba never be a bitch and accuse igbo of anything but it is Igbo that is playing the Victim Card today. Igbo is a tribe of Traitors, losers and envious souls Everything that is wrong with Nigeria started from them but they are the one playing the Victim Card today

@angelicbeing look at one of them

Well there’s a storyline that stated that Amadu Bello had insisted that should the west and East join forces politically during the first republic, the North would be forced to pull out of the union called Nigeria.

Zik appeared to have been sympathetic to the North’s concern for being left behind in the scheme of things.

There were mistakes from all sides, even today...

Elemosho478:
We led that independence mission but Azikiwe betrayed Awolowo later to joined the north just because of jealousy and power he sold the south to the North why are people not talking about this ?

hehe

Zik was indeed a great man,well exposed. He understood everybody regardless of tribe and religion. What a wonderful man,he still remain the most civilized person to come from the old eastern region and nigeria as whole. May ur departed soul continue to rest in the bossom of our lord.

9gerian:
Well there’s a storyline that stated that Amadu Bello had insisted that should the west and East join forces politically during the first republic, the North would be forced to pull out of the union called Nigeria.

Zik appeared to have been sympathetic to the North’s concern for being left behind in the scheme of things.

There were mistakes from all sides, even today...

No Excuse Azikiwe was a Big loser and Traitor may thunder fire him wherever he is

Azikiwe was the reason no Yoruba would ever trust Igbo again, but the funniest thing is that Igbo are the one playing Victim today.

Amuocha:
She contributed to the terrible mess in Nigeria's political history.

Nonsense.

How?

Hmm another low in the history of Nigeria. It must have been very sad for the family and their people.

OyiboOyibo:
"Them throw my mama
Seventy-eight-year-old mama

Political mama
Ideological mama
Influential mama...

Them throw my mama out from window
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama
Them kill my mama"... Fela

Elemosho478:


Azikiwe neglected Awolowo that they both fought for Independence to form allegiance with the north just because of power, he sold the south to the North and betrayed Yoruba but Yoruba never be a bitch and accuse igbo of anything but it is Igbo that is playing the Victim Card today. Igbo is a tribe of Traitors, losers and envious souls Everything that is wrong with Nigeria started from them but they are the one playing the Victim Card today

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.