Ginaz:
Look at the insult the fan has given his father for refusing to mind his business . Truth be told some Nigerians are just busy bodies.

Look at his wack face.

Mind ya business next time.

Your father is dumb

The first source of tension was over the ideological orientation of the party. Defeat in the election had led Awolowo to conclude that the AG could revive its fortunes and broaden its support base by sharpening its socialist rhetoric, radicalising its message and stepping up attacks on social inequalities. Awolowo reasoned that such an ideologically radical posture would enable the party to break out of its regional box and draw cross-ethnic support from workers and the underprivileged across the country. This placed him at odds with Akintola and many of the party elites who were regionalist in outlook and status- quo oriented. It also placed him at odds with the “Yoruba businessmen and merchants at the party’s financial core” who worried that Awolowo wanted to take the AG down the route to communism. Disputes over party strategy further placed Awolowo and Akintola at loggerheads. Awolowo and his faction argued that only a twin strategy of confronting the NPC in parliament, and of luring the NCNC into a “progressive coalition”, could act as a brake on Northern power and therefore secure for Yoruba elites a place at the federal table. Akintola and his faction, on the other hand, countered that moderation toward the NPC – being the dominant party in government – was the best strategy for Yorubas to gain access to the “privileges and benefits in the federation”. Aggravating the emerging party split was the clash over regional and party control between Awolowo who kept a firm hand in the Western Region to keep his deputy from “wrestling control of the party”, and Akintola who wished to strike out on his own and emerge from under the shadow of his party boss. Akintola was said to have bitterly complained about Awolowo’s “insatiable desire to run the government of which I am head from outside”. In February 1962, the festering tension finally erupted at the party congress as Awolowo moved to reassert his dominance in the AG. He orchestrated a series of motions which led to “critical changes” in the running of the party. For example, the party constitution was amended to weaken the Regional Premier’s (Akintola) role, and strengthen the party President’s (Awolowo) role in the “Federal Executive Committee” (FEC) – the party’s key decision-making body. In addition, Awolowo’s allies “scored a clean sweep of the elections for major party offices”. As Akintola licked his wounds, having emerged from the party congress with his pride and power dented, Awolowo moved in for the kill. The opportunity seemed ripe to remove his weakened rival from office. In May, just three months after the party congress, he incited the party into deposing Akintola as Premier and party deputy. Unsurprisingly Akintola refused to go down quietly. He challenged the constitutionality of his removal in court, “vowing a fight to the finish”. By now the disintegrating AG and the deepening split in Yoruba elite cohesion was clearly becoming a “threat to peace and order in the West”. Violent riots erupted throughout the region as the power struggle between the two men and their factions spilt out into the streets. The NPC and NCNC watched the deepening fragmentation of their Western rival with cautious optimism. They believed that the intra-party conflict would open up the West, allowing them to extend their influence into the region. Ahmadu Bello, the NPC party chairman and Premier of the North went as far as issuing a public statement of support for the embattled Akintola. The struggle between the two factions reached its climax on the 25th of May when the Awolowo faction attempted to vote in a new Regional Premier, Alhaji Adegbenro, in the regional parliament. The parliamentary procedure descended into physical violence. Calculating that in any vote they would lose as they were in the minority, parliamentarians from the Akintola faction, supported by NCNC members of the Western regional assembly, resorted to violent disruption to block Adegbenro from being sworn in. John Mackintosh, a British political scientist, then lecturing at the University of Ibadan, described the scene in parliament: The House of Assembly met at 9 a.m. and after prayers, as Chief Odebiyi rose to move the first motion, Mr E. O. Oke, a supporter of Chief Akintola, jumped on the table shouting ‘There is fire on the mountain’. He proceeded to fling chairs about the chamber. Mr E. Ebubedike, also a supporter of Chief Akintola, seized the mace, attempted to club the speaker with it but missed and broke the mace on the table. The supporters of Alhaji Adegbenro sat quiet as they had been instructed to do, with the exception of one member who was hit with a chair and retaliated. Mr Akinyemi (NCNC) and Messrs Adigun and Adeniya (pro-Akintola) continued to throw chairs, the opposition joined in and there was such disorder that the Nigerian police released tear gas and cleared the House. The Prime Minister, Sir Tafawa Balewa, gave an even more graphic account of events: The whole House was shattered, every bit of furniture there was broken … some persons were stabbed As the AG reeled from this assault, the two governing parties stepped- up the offensive by instituting a commission of inquiry in June – “the Coker Commission” – to investigate allegations of misuse of public funds in the Western Region. The Commission found Awolowo guilty of embezzling millions in cash and over-draft from government companies and parastatals, and of “trying to build a financial empire through abuse of his official position”. Such was the drain on regional funds by Awolowo and AG party stalwarts that by 1962 the Western Region Marketing Board – the wealthiest of the three regional marketing boards – “had to borrow to perform its own routine operations”.
While there was “little surprise or shock among AG supporters” at the extent of the fraud uncovered, and while few doubted Awolowo’s pivotal role in the scandal, many however felt that the findings of the Commission were selective and driven by a political agenda. For a start, its complete exoneration of Akintola from any of the financial misdemeanours struck many as absurd as he was the party deputy and Regional Premier while the region’s funds were being siphoned off to fund party activities. Also, most observers felt that had a similar investigation been done over the finances in the other two regions, the same level of abuse of public funds would have been uncovered. With Coker Commission’s revelations inflicting damaging blows on Awolowo and the AG’s prestige, the Emergency Administrator’s restrictions on AG members were gradually relaxed for Akintola’s supporters and that for Awolowo’s tightened[65]. This allowed Akintola to regroup his supporters; setting the stage for his eventual return as Premier. Under the unrelenting pressure, many Awolowo supporters defected to Akintola’s side in a bid to save their political careers. As indications multiplied that Akintola, backed by federal might, would be reinstalled as Regional Premier without a re-election after the Emergency period expired, some Awolowo supporters began secretly plotting the government’s overthrow. The plot, however, was uncovered by a police informant. In September 1962, the Prime Minister “revealed to a stunned nation” the uncovered plot. In November, Awolowo and the decimated leadership of the AG, now languishing in prison, were charged with “treasonable felony” and “conspiracy to stage a coup d’état”. In December, the NPC- NCNC federal government announced that it would no longer recognise the party as the official opposition.
1963 brought no respite for the rapidly collapsing AG. On the 1st of January, to the surprise of few, Akintola was re-installed as Regional Premier without an election. An election would have revived the flagging fortunes of the AG as Alhaji Adgbenro, the party candidate, would almost certainly have won. Akintola’s return was only made possible by his alliance with one of the governing duo – the NCNC. In return, Akintola rewarded his Eastern ally with a “generous share of power in the West”, resulting in the NCNC scooping up numerous regional ministerial portfolios. More seriously for the Yorubas, particularly in view of the ethno- regional balance-of-power, Akintola was forced, as part of the bargain, to accept the partition of the West. This would eventually lead to the creation in August of a new region – the Mid-West – for the minorities in the West. All the regions had their minority troubles. In the East, for example, the Ibibios, Efiks and Ijaws, to name but a few, all harboured separatist sentiments against their domineering Igbo overlords. And in the North “escalating political repression” twice plunged the region’s Tiv areas into open rebellion, in 1960 and 1964. After the partition, and with its destruction nearing completion, two events finally finished off the AG as a credible force on the national scene. The formal publication of the Coker Commission report in January 1963 gave the NPC-NCNC-led federal government and the Akintola-led Western Regional government the legal cover they needed to confiscate the assets of the AG, and break up its “commercial and financial” networks – steps which did “real damage” to the party. And on September 11, Awolowo and his co-conspirators were finally found guilty of the treasonable felony charge and sentenced to 10 years in prison. This effectively wiped out the top echelons of the AG. The eminent Stanford political scientist, Larry Diamond, in his Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria, described the collapse of the AG thus: The breadth and magnitude of the defeat inflicted upon Chief Awolowo and his AG supporters by the NPC and the NCNC was simply staggering. Not only did the Awolowo Action Group lose the power struggle in the West, it was also… destroyed…as an effective opposition force The collapse of the AG immediately led to realignments in the political constellation. With his regional rival in jail and his grip over the West consolidated, Akintola shook off his alliance with the NCNC, dismissed their members from the regional cabinet, formed a new party – the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) – and realigned it with the NPC. This was arguably where he had always wanted to be, as close as possible to federal power. He probably calculated that under the nourishing embrace of the dominant party in government, he could rebuild the shattered position of the West and restore the Yorubas to parity in the ethno- regional balance. More fundamentally, the collapse of one pole (the AG) transformed the contest from a tripolar struggle to a bipolar one. With the disappearance of the AG as a national political force, the two governing parties now faced each other in direct and increasingly acrimonious confrontations. Like the breaking of the ground after an earthquake, deep fissures opened between the NPC and the NCNC. As the dust settled from the crisis, it became manifestly clear that the NPC had reaped the biggest windfall. With a dependent ally in Akintola’s NNDP now in control of the Western Region, the southern dream of an east-west ‘progressive alliance’ against Northern hegemony was shattered. And with 16 independent parliamentarians having earlier in 1961 joined the NPC, their party now had a slim working majority in parliament. These developments meant the NCNC effectively lost its leverage over the federal government, and therefore its “extractive capacity” – denting its power and confidence. The Northern Region now stood poised to bring Nigeria under its sole captaincy. John Stuart Mill, in his 1861 Considerations on Representative Government, set out several conditions for a stable federation, one of which was that “there should not be anyone State [or Region] so much more powerful than the rest as to be capable of vying in strength with many of them combined. If there be such a one … it will insist on being master of the joint deliberations”. Eastern Regional Premier, Michael Okpara, belatedly recognizing that the emerging political balance would be unfavourable to the East, tried to “drawback” from the “total extinction” of the AG. Maitama Sule, then an NPC Federal Minister, however, observing the changes taking place, remarked with breath-taking confidence: “In a very short time, the NPC will rule the whole of Nigeria”. It was against this background that the First Republic’s next crisis played out.

Like the NCNC in 1959, it also campaigned outside its region and won seats through alliances with ethnic minority parties: United Middle-Belt Congress (UMBC) in the North and Dynamic party in the East. Having won the smallest share of seats among the three major parties, and having similarly performed the poorest in its region (it only won 53% of the seats in the Western Region. NPC won 77% of Northern seats and NCNC won 79% of Eastern seats), the AG thus went into opposition upon independence. Awolowo, the party chairman, became the official leader of the opposition in the federal parliament. He was the only party chairman who “opted to go to the [federal] centre” and leave his deputy, Ladoke Akintola, to become Regional Premier. This decision, however, was to cost Awolowo as it left him “particularly vulnerable” to a leadership challenge from his deputy. The decision of both southern parties to step out of their ethnic enclaves to field candidates across the federation in 1959 reflected their aspirations that the nation would be an open constituency for all parties to compete in. It was however also a reflection of political reality. Because of the sharp disparity in parliamentary seat allocation, “only the NPC could dominate the federation from its regional base alone”. An advantage neither of the other two parties enjoyed. Consequently, even as the nature of the First Republic’s political culture strongly anchored the AG and the NCNC to their ethnic base, the asymmetry of parliamentary power in the republic necessarily forced them to reach out to minorities beyond their regions. 3. The political alignment which formed after the 1959 election It can be argued that the political constellation which emerged after the 1959 election was the most potent of the young republic’s structural weaknesses. It had huge impacts on the stability of the soon to be an independent nation. The North-South governing coalition between the NPC and the NCNC, variously described as “unnatural”, a coalition of “strange bedfellows”, only accentuated the republic’s structural imbalances. On immediate observations, it was certainly a partnership of unequal – with the NPC being by far the more powerful of the two governing parties. This meant the NCNC was always acutely sensitive to the tenuousness of its share of power. Further aggravating the latent tension between the governing duo was the fact that politicians from either party viewed members from the other side with suspicion, condescension, and even hostility. This was a microcosm of the North-South cleavage within wider the Nigerian society just after independence whereby Yorubas and Igbos “sincerely saw the North as feudal and backward, a brake upon nationalist progress”, and the Hausa-Fulanis “sincerely perceived the prospect of Southern domination as a threat to [their] … cultural values”. The deep cultural gulf between the two parties, therefore, led to a governing coalition that was wracked by “tension and mistrust”, such that when multiple crises came the governing alliance repeatedly broke down under the strains. Thus, another facet of the structural tension caused by the post-1959 political alignment is the misfortune which befell the AG in opposition. Defeat in the election left the AG “stranded in opposition…without a firm base of power resources”; by extension, it also meant that Yoruba elites lost their bargaining power over the distribution of federal patronage to their region. To illustrate this point: Apparently, part of the “bargain” which the NCNC secured upon joining government was “enhanced entry and promotion for Easterners in the public service and [the] armed forces”. ‘Relegation’ to the status of opposition and loss of access to patronage would eventually split the AG into two camps. The disintegration of the AG into factions was the first crisis which shook the republic early in its life – accentuating all its structural tensions, as we will see in the second section. 4. The fear of ethnic domination The last and deepest of the structural weaknesses was the fear of ethnic domination which pervaded the politics of the First Republic. The Yorubas and Igbos in the two southern regions feared that the Hausa-Fulanis would use the North’s demographic preponderance to perpetuate northern hegemony and monopolise federal resources for their region; Hausa-Fulanis, in turn, feared that in an open contest, the Yorubas and Igbos, being the more educated, would dominate the political and economic structures of the federation. Similarly, within the south, the powerful undercurrent of tribalism placed the Yoruba and Igbo elites at loggerheads. And within the three regions, minority ethnic groups lived under the suffocating embrace of the three dominant groups. Thus, upon independence in 1960, Nigeria had a tense, fractured and conflictual socio-political landscape which resembled what Crawford Young has characterized as a “three-player ethnic game”. This ethnically charged political competition hindered national unity and progress. Now to the five crises which gradually eroded the foundations of Nigeria’s First Republic, leading to its fall/collapse. 1. The disintegration of the AG, 1962-63 The collapse of the AG’s political power between 1962 and 1963 produced far-reaching effects. The crisis that engulfed the party stemmed from its “staggering defeat” in 1959. It had been ‘relegated’ to the opposition. The NCNC had made impressive inroads into its regional heartland, securing for itself 21 seats in the AG’s political turf by exploiting minority discontent within the Western Region[41]. Most damagingly for Awolowo’s leadership of the party, leading Yoruba personalities interpreted the AG’s opposition role as a defeat for the entire ethnic group. Under the crushing weight of disappointment, it didn’t take long for the party to fracture. Throughout 1960 and 1961, a simmering tension developed between Awolowo and his deputy, Akintola, who was also the Premier of the Western Region.

The NCNC, as its name indicates, originally hoped to project a nationalist, pan-Nigerian image, but the ethnic regionalism which the country’s federal structure encouraged gradually shrivelled the party’s political horizons and it increasingly became the “voice of Igbo nationalism”. Like the NPC, the party’s chairman, Michael Okpara, chose to remain as Regional Premier after the 1959 election rather than take up a seat in the federal cabinet. But unlike the NPC, the NCNC campaigned in the other two regions during the election; it won seats in the West and – in alliance with the Aminu Kano-led Northern Elements Progressive Union – won seats in the North as well. The Action Group (AG) is the last party which completes our tripartite list. The AG, like its southern counterpart, the NCNC, initially aspired to be more than a regional party. It’s advertised political ideology was “democratic socialism” which it hoped would gain it cross-regional support. However, trapped by the nature of the political terrain, party elites soon concluded that “the only certain avenue to power was a regional political party”. Consequently, the AG similarly shrank into its ethnic enclave and never managed to shake off its image as a platform “to safeguard Yoruba interests”.

Having won the largest number of seats in the 1959 elections, the party gained the privilege of forming Nigeria’s first post- independence government. However, as it fell just short of winning the majority needed to govern alone (i.e. 157 seats), it had to form a coalition with one of the two main southern parties. Illustrative of the constitutional power of the Regions, Ahmadu Bello, who should have been Prime Minister, being NPC’s party leader, instead chose to remain as Regional Premier, instead preferring to send his deputy, Tafawa Balewa, to Lagos to lead the federal government. This would be analogous to a politician today passing up the opportunity to become President, choosing instead to remain a state Governor. The National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) was the southern party which entered into a coalition with the NPC as a junior partner in government. It was a decision for which it was richly rewarded. “Party stalwarts got plum ministerial and ambassadorial posts”. The Presidency (then a largely ceremonial role) for example, which went to Nnamdi Azikiwe, one of the party’s founders, and the Finance ministry went to Festus Okotie-Eboh, the party’s national treasurer.

2. Ethno-Regional Political Parties The second structural weakness which afflicted the First Republic was the emotive association between political party and ethno- regional identity. This meant politics largely “revolved around ethnic-based regional…parties”. Reflecting the tripodal ethnic balance, three parties bestrode the political scene like titans and thus shaped the destiny of the First Republic: Northern People’s Congress (NPC), the Action Group (AG), and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). All three parties originally emerged out of ethno-cultural associations: NPC from Jam’iyar Mutanen Arewa (Association of Peoples of the North) AG from Egbe omo Oduduwa (Society for the Descendants of Oduduwa. In Yoruba folklore Oduduwa is described as the ancestral progenitor of the Yoruba people) NCNC from the Igbo State Union As a result, these three parties and their leaders reflected, shaped, and intensified the nation’s ethno- regional cleavages. The three dominant parties The Northern People’s Congress (NPC) was a “Hausa-Fulani dominated party” which held sway in the North. Of the three parties, it was the most entrenched in its regional identity. Nothing illustrates this more than its name, and the fact that in the 1959 eve of independence general election it did not field a single candidate in the other regions. The NPC’s foundational aim was to protect the conservative social hierarchy of the North from the “winds of radical change sweeping up from the south”. The party chairman, who was also the Regional Premier (Premiers were the political leaders of the Regions, analogous to Governors today), was Ahmadu Bello, a titled prince from the region’s aristocracy.

The country’s federal regions broadly coincided with – and reinforced – the nation’s ethnic cleavages, the exclusion of minorities from each region’s political and economic structures, and the structural tensions which resulted from the Northern region being large enough to dominate its two southern counterparts in parliament, set the scene for the political conflicts which consumed the First Republic.

Nigeria became recognized as a Republic on the 1st of October, 1963, but this did not mark the beginning of Nigeria’s political journey as a Republican state. The first republic in Nigeria started on the 1st of October, 1960 upon the attainment of independence and ended on the 15th of January, 1966 during the first military coup d’état . During independence, Nigeria had all the features of a democratic state and was seen by other African countries as a hope for democracy. Nigeria had a federal constitution that ensured adequate autonomy to three (later four) regions which were: Northern region, Eastern region and Western region; the country adopted and operated a parliamentary democracy that emphasized majority rule; the constitution included an elaborate bill of rights; and, unlike other African states that adopted one-party systems immediately after independence, Nigeria had a functional, albeit regionally based, multiparty system. However, the democratic qualities that Nigeria possessed at that time didn’t guarantee the survival of the republic because of certain structural weaknesses and political crises. People ask questions like: what are the factors that led to the collapse of the first republic in Nigeria? Why did Nigeria’s first republic fail? What led to the fall of Nigeria’s first republic? Etc. In this article, answers to these questions will be provided. Table of Contents  1. Structural Weaknesses that led to the collapse of the first republic in Nigeria 1. 1. Ethnically based Federal Regions, with uneven size and power 2. 2. Ethno-Regional Political Parties 1. The three dominant parties 3. 3. The political alignment which formed after the 1959 election 4. 4. The fear of ethnic domination 2. Now to the five crises which gradually eroded the foundations of Nigeria’s First Republic, leading to its fall/collapse. 1. 1. The disintegration of the AG, 1962-63 2. 2. Census Crisis, 1962-64 3. 3. The General Strike, June 1-13, 1964 4. 4. The General Election, December 1964 5. 5. The Western Regional Election, October 1965 1. References: Structural Weaknesses that led to the collapse of the first republic in Nigeria 1. Ethnically based Federal Regions, with uneven size and power The first structural weakness which set the First Republic in Nigeria for political crisis was its ethnically- based federal regions and the asymmetry in size and power between them. Upon independence, Nigeria was composed of three federating regions: Northern, Eastern and Western regions. (Later in 1963 a new region, the Mid-West, was carved out of the West following a crisis in that region). Each of the regions was dominated by one of the country’s three largest ethnic groups: Hausa-Fulani in the North, Yoruba in the West and Igbo in the East. This arrangement presided over by the dominant ethnic groups placed minorities at a considerable disadvantage in the competition for jobs and resources at the regional level. It also allowed the elites of the three largest ethnic groups to monopolize access to federal patronage, which they leveraged for political support. These three regions were largely autonomous from the federal and were constitutionally powerful as well, a historian of Nigeria’s political parties during this period puts it: In their respective regions, the leaders of these dominant nationality groups controlled the means of access to wealth and power… They tended to equate their private interests with the objective interests of their nationality groups; conversely, they exploited the sentiments of their groups to promote their private interests. Of the three regions, the North was much larger demographically and geographically (See Fig. 1 & Chart 1). Consequently, it was allocated more than half the seats in the federal parliament (See Chart 2). This meant that a party could potentially govern the country by winning votes from the North alone. This had the double effect of reinforcing the regional outlook of the Hausa-Fulani elites and heightening the fear of northern hegemony amongst Yoruba and Igbo elites.

POINT OF CORRECTION, MALCOLM X WAS NEVER A GANG STAR AND NEVER WAS HE NOTORIOUS. HE WAS A PETTY THIEF WITH TWO OF HIS FRIENDS, LIKE MOST BLACK YOUTHS OF THE DEPRESSION PERIOD IN USA, HE DODGED CONSCRIPTION INTO THE WORLD WAR A COMPULSORY DUTY FOR PEOPLE OF HIS AGE THAT TIME BECAUSE HE DID NOT BELIEVE IN SUPPORTING THE WHITE MAN. HE DID SOME RUNS IN PEDDLING DRUGS AND GAMBLING. IN ALL HE NEVER KILLED ANYBODY NOR WAS HE WANTED FOR SERIOUS CRIME OR OFFENCES. HE AND SHORTY HIS FRIEND WERE JAILED FOR NON VIOLENT BURGLARY CASE MAINLY BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACKS, THE WHITE MEMBERS OF THE TEAM WERE ABSOLVED OF THE CRIME DUE TO COLOUR DIFFERENCE. FROM THE PRISON HE BECAME A MUSLIM AND AFTER BEING GRANTED BAIL., HE JOINED ‘NATION OF ISLAM’ OF WHICH HE ROSE TO PROMINENCE BECAUSE OF HIS ORATORY SKILL AND HARD LINE STAND AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY LAWS AND ACTIVITIES. HE LEFT NATION OF ISLAM DUE TO WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS ANTI ISLAMIC BEHAVIOR OF MOHAMMED ELIJAH THE MOVEMENT’S LEADERS TO FOUND HIS OWN PRESSURE GROUP. HE TRAVELED TO AFRICA (INCLUDING NIGERIA), ASIA EUROPE AND MANY COUNTIES IN THE WORLD TO GARNER SUPPORT FOR EQUALITY OF ALL RACES IN USA WHICH THE WHITE SUPREMACY GROUPS LIKE KU KLUX KLAN (KKK), THE JEWS AND OTHERS BENEFITING FROM USA RACIAL SEGREGATION. THEY ALL WANTED TO ELIMINATE HIM FOR HIS RISING PERSONAE AND SEEMINGLY ABILITY TO SUCCEED IN HIS QUEST. THUS THE FBI AND CIA IN CONJUNCTION WITH SOME DISGRUNTLE MEMBERS OF NATION OF ISLAM MADE SEVERAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS AGAINST HIM. HE WAS WAS FINALLY MURDERED AT AUDUBON BALLROOM WHILE DELIVERING A SPEECH TO HIS GROUP ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN AND AMERICAN UNION (OAAU) BY SOME MEMBERS OF NATION OF ISLAM SPONSORED BY FBI AND CIA. HE IS MORE INFLUENTIAL TO SPEEDY ABOLITION OF SEGREGATION AND RACISM IN USA THAN MARTIN LUTHER KING BUT OUT OF DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION AND ATTEMPT TO OBLITERATE HIS NAME AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO USA GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IS HISTORY WAS BEING DOWNPLAYED AND SYSTEMATICALLY CORRUPTED. THANK GOD TODAY, THERE IS RENAISSANCE OF PROMOTION AND CELEBRATION OF ALHADJI MALIK SHABBASH (MALCOLM-X LITTLE) IN THE USA AND WORLD OVER!. HE WAS THE MAIN INFLUENCE ON OUR OWN FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI.

Malcolm X was very happy and proud of the black race throughout his stay in Nigeria. In a letter he wrote after leaving Lagos for Accra, he said, “ I arrived in Accra yesterday from Lagos, Nigeria. The natural beauty and wealth of Nigeria and its people are indescribable. It is full of Americans and other whites who are well aware of its untapped natural resources. The same whites, who spit in the faces of blacks in America and sic their police dogs upon us to keep us from “integrating” with them, are seen throughout Africa, bowing, grinning and smiling in an effort to “integrate” with the Africans — they want to “integrate” into Africa’s wealth and beauty. This is ironical.” He furthered “I spoke at Ibadan University in Nigeria, Friday night, and gave the true picture of our plight in America, and of the necessity of the independent African nations helping us bring our case before the United Nations. The reception of the students was tremendous. They made me an honorary member of the “Muslim Students Society of Nigeria,” and renamed me “Omowale,” which means “the child has come home” in the Yoruba language. ”
https://oldnaija.com/2017/05/31/malcolm-xs-visit-to-nigeria-in-1959-and-1964/

Malcolm X , originally born Malcolm Little, was a notorious African-American hooligan who later became a world known human right activist and Islamic leader. Malcolm X visited Nigeria on two occasions, one in 1959 and the other in 1964. His first visit to Nigeria in 1959 was to arrange a tour for Elijah Muhammad, the leader of ‘ Nation of Islam‘, a black Muslim organization in America. Malcolm X’s second visit to Nigeria was in 1964. During this visit, he rendered a beautiful and brilliant speech at the Trenchard Hall in University of Ibadan . Also, at a reception held at the Students’ Union hall for Malcolm X by the Muslim Students’ Society, the Yoruba name ‘ Omowale‘ which literally means ‘the child has come home’ was bestowed upon him. At a press conference Malcolm addressed when he arrived in New York, he said the reception given to him by students in Nigeria was one of the highest honours he had ever received in his life.

In order to mount a revolution, numbers are never enough. Revolutions are usually made by small

networks of agitators rather than by the masses. If you want to launch a revolution, don’t ask yourself,

‘How many people support my ideas?’ Instead, ask yourself, ‘How many of my supporters are

capable of effective collaboration?’ The Russian Revolution finally erupted not when 180 million

peasants rose against the tsar, but rather when a handful of communists placed themselves at the right

place at the right time. In 1917, at a time when the Russian upper and middle classes numbered at

least 3 million people, the Communist Party had just 23,000 members.

19 The communists nevertheless

gained control of the vast Russian Empire because they organised themselves well. When authority in

Russia slipped from the decrepit hands of the tsar and the equally shaky hands of Kerensky’s

provisional government, the communists seized it with alacrity, gripping the reins of power like a

bulldog locking its jaws on a bone.

The communists didn’t release their grip until the late 1980s. Effective organisation kept them in

power for eight long decades, and they eventually fell due to defective organisation. On 21 December

1989 Nicolae Ceauşescu, the communist dictator of Romania, organised a mass demonstration of

support in the centre of Bucharest. Over the previous months the Soviet Union had withdrawn its

support from the eastern European communist regimes, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and revolutions

had swept Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Ceauşescu, who had ruled

Romania since 1965, believed he could withstand the tsunami, even though riots against his rule had

erupted in the Romanian city of Timişoara on 17 December. As one of his counter-measures,

Ceauşescu arranged a massive rally in Bucharest to prove to Romanians and the rest of the world that

the majority of the populace still loved him – or at least feared him. The creaking party apparatus

mobilised 80,000 people to fill the city’s central square, and citizens throughout Romania were

instructed to stop all their activities and tune in on their radios and televisions.

To the cheering of the seemingly enthusiastic crowd, Ceauşescu mounted the balcony overlooking

the square, as he had done scores of times in previous decades. Flanked by his wife Elena, leading

party officials and a bevy of bodyguards, Ceauşescu began delivering one of his trademark dreary

speeches. For eight minutes he praised the glories of Romanian socialism, looking very pleased withhimself as the crowd clapped mechanically. And then something went wrong. You can see it for

yourself on YouTube. Just search for ‘Ceauşescu’s last speech’, and watch history in action.

20

The YouTube clip shows Ceauşescu starting another long sentence, saying, ‘I want to thank the

initiators and organisers of this great event in Bucharest, considering it as a—’, and then he falls

silent, his eyes open wide, and he freezes in disbelief. He never finished the sentence. You can see in

that split second how an entire world collapses. Somebody in the audience booed. People still argue

today who was the first person who dared to boo. And then another person booed, and another, and

another, and within a few seconds the masses began whistling, shouting abuse and calling out ‘Ti-mi-

şoa-ra! Ti-mi-şoa-ra!’
All this happened live on Romanian television, as three-quarters of the populace sat glued to the

screens, their hearts throbbing wildly. The notorious secret police – the Securitate – immediately

ordered the broadcast to be stopped, but the television crews disobeyed. The cameraman pointed the

camera towards the sky so that viewers couldn’t see the panic among the party leaders on the balcony,

but the soundman kept recording, and the technicians continued the transmission. The whole of

Romania heard the crowd booing, while Ceauşescu yelled, ‘Hello! Hello! Hello!’ as if the problem

was with the microphone. His wife Elena began scolding the audience, ‘Be quiet! Be quiet!’ until

Ceauşescu turned and yelled at her – still live on television – ‘You be quiet!’ Ceauşescu then

appealed to the excited crowds in the square, imploring them, ‘Comrades! Comrades! Be quiet,

comrades!’

But the comrades were unwilling to be quiet. Communist Romania crumbled when 80,000 people

in the Bucharest central square realised they were much stronger than the old man in the fur hat on the

balcony. What is truly astounding, however, is not the moment the system collapsed, but the fact that it

managed to survive for decades. Why are revolutions so rare? Why do the masses sometimes clap

and cheer for centuries on end, doing everything the man on the balcony commands them, even though

they could in theory charge forward at any moment and tear him to pieces?

Ceauşescu and his cronies dominated 20 million Romanians for four decades because they ensured

three vital conditions. First, they placed loyal communist apparatchiks in control of all networks ofcooperation, such as the army, trade unions and even sports associations. Second, they prevented the

creation of any rival organisations – whether political, economic or social – which might serve as a

basis for anti-communist cooperation. Third, they relied on the support of sister communist parties in

the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Despite occasional tensions, these parties helped each other in

times of need, or at least guaranteed that no outsider poked his nose into the socialist paradise. Under

such conditions, despite all the hardship and suffering inflicted on them by the ruling elite, the 20

million Romanians were unable to organise any effective opposition.

Ceauşescu fell from power only once all three conditions no longer held. In the late 1980s the

Soviet Union withdrew its protection and the communist regimes began falling like dominoes. By

December 1989 Ceauşescu could not expect any outside assistance. Just the opposite – revolutions in

nearby countries gave heart to the local opposition. The Communist Party itself began splitting into

rival camps. The moderates wished to rid themselves of Ceauşescu and initiate reforms before it was

too late. By organising the Bucharest demonstration and broadcasting it live on television, Ceauşescu

himself provided the revolutionaries with the perfect opportunity to discover their power and rally

against him. What quicker way to spread a revolution than by showing it on TV?

Yet when power slipped from the hands of the clumsy organiser on the balcony, it did not pass to

the masses in the square. Though numerous and enthusiastic, the crowds did not know how to organise

themselves. Hence just as in Russia in 1917, power passed to a small group of political players

whose only asset was good organisation. The Romanian Revolution was hijacked by the self

wellmax:
Try it with me that will be the beginning of Third World War

I laugh in Spanish

At 6pm today, 5th August, 2019, members of the Take it Back Movement were allowed to visit with our convener, Omoyele Sowore, for the first time since his armed abduction in the early hours last Saturday, the 3rd of August.

The visitors met him in high spirits, unmoved by the events of the last few days. The officers allowed the guests to present him with food as Sowore had refused all meals since his capture. We are also happy to confirm that Take it Back members will be allowed to bring him food daily as per his wishes.

The freedom fighter was quick to ask about Movement and Party faithfuls as he is aware that there will be a lot of worry about his wellbeing, and would like to assure everyone that he is being treated well and is in very good health.

He is pleased that the peaceful #RevolutionNow protests he called Nigerians to stand for went ahead, and has expressed his dismay at knowledge of the sheer number of innocent Nigerians being arrested for exercising their civil rights. He is greatly concerned about the wellbeing of all those arrested and /or affected by today’s heavy handed police action, and joins in demanding for their immediate release.

Indeed, the silver lining in today’s unrest lies in the knowledge that the truly, you cannot stop an idea whose time has come.

The Take it Back Movement will continue to agitate for his release as well as that of every single comrade whose voice this oppressive regime has tried to silence.

This visit was a small win; but we will not rest until we are free and free indeed.

Rachel Onamusi-Kpiasi
Director, PR, Media and Communications
Take it Back Movement

This picture shows the level of brutality that has become normal in the society.

Police brutalise woman, journalist, arrest 10 in Osun

In Osogbo, Osun State, an elderly woman identified as Sariyu Akanmu, was brutalised by policemen while 10 members of the #RevolutionNow were arrested.

The police had asked the protesters to disperse but the youth, numbering about 30, decked in orange beret and handkerchiefs, stood their ground and sang protest songs for about two hours.

The security men later seized their public address system and ordered them to fold their banners.

This led to a clash between the police and the protesters.

The police descended on the protesters, beat them up, before firing tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.

In the ensuing melee, Sariyu, who is about 70 years old and sells fufu, was brutalised by a policewoman, while another policeman hit her with his footwear.

Journalists and many bystanders were also not spared, as a police woman released tear gas canister into the face of Sunday Oguntuyi, the correspondent of Nigeria News Direct newspaper.

Some members of the #RevolutionNow group were also brutalised by the DSS operatives, while about 10 members of the group were arrested.

Addressing newsmen earlier, Olawale Adebayo, who led the protest, demanded unconditional release of Sowore.

https://punchng.com/revolutionnow-police-clampdown-disrupts-lagos-abuja-other-protests/

When igbos are counting themselves out of the protest, dem no know.

They've started with your Kings, next will be the citizens. Lol, we can all spread hate and tribalism

Lol, you never suffer finish. Kill them all

bullabong:
The pen has always been mightier than the sword and still is.....revolutions are never started through planned protests cause the army has been notified,but by a silent gas slowly seeping into the people's minds that will one day ignite and the government will know that day when it arrives.

revolutions have been started even with the world knowing. Many revolutions were done with the help of media

MelesZenawi:


You want me to school you of over 50 years of history.

I only pity any igbo men or womwn that will join yorubas in this his revolution and in the end they will use them settle score as scapegoat .

Any igbo should avoid this revolution and have his peace intact....that's all

A word is enough for the wise.

Histories of past happenings have been here.

Make una allow oodua do their thing.



Be wise and safe.

I would have continued debating with you lots but after simple skimming through your profiles, I found out that you're an attention seeker first, and a liar second not to talk a lucifer incarnate only seeking to cause commotion.

I BELIEVE A MAN SHOULD BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT WHO HE IS, BOTH OFLINE AND ONLINE BUT YOU'VE FAILED IN THAT SIMPLE AND HONEST TASK OF INTEGRITY. THIS IS A POST FROM YOU JUST DAYS AGO.



THE Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ogiamen Ikenwoli, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to open up ports facilities in the Southern and Eastern corridors to help decongest the Lagos ports, which has grounded economic activities in Lagos.
The Warri monarch, who met with President Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, also asked the president to revive the $20 billion Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park.
It will be recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan had inaugurated the $20 billion Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park Grip, projected to generate 250,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The Warri monarch noted that efforts by former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, to attract developers collapsed after a consortium pooled over $10 billion for the project.
According to him, “if the project and the ports in the southern parts of the country are revived, the issue of unemployment, kidnapping and insecurity will be a thing of the past. The over 2,700 hectares park is designed for fertiliser, methanol, petrochemicals and aluminium plants.”
The Olu of Warri, who led traditional rulers from Delta State on a visit to the president, said they were at the Presidential Villa to congratulate the president on his February 23 presidential election victory and as a sign of solidarity with him.
Speaking on the ports in southern parts of the country that are lying idle, he said the ports located at Warri, Sapele, Burutu, Onitsha and Calabar would also serve as a major source of job creation and social stabilisation.
He said: “We are talking of how to create jobs. We all know that issues of youth restiveness, crime and kidnapping were at their minimal levels when these ports were operational.”
The royal father disclosed that the visit also offered him an opportunity to share his thoughts with the president on the current security challenges, adding: “We will continue to assist in our domain to counsel our youths.”
I’ve figures of my votes from Itsekiri people, Buhari tells Olu of Warri
Meanwhile, reacting during the visit, President Buhari told the Olu of Warri that he has the figure of votes he got from Delta State, especially from the Itsekiri people in the February 23 presidential election.
Buhari also assured that his administration will strive to complete on-going projects that will impact positively on the lives of the people, adding that he was mindful of how infrastructural development could uplift the standard of living of the people.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, the president also said his administration was taking new measures to address the security situation in the country.
Replying to comments that the Itsekiri people gave him massive support during the election, the president said he appreciated the support, adding: “I have all the figures of votes I got and I know what Itsekiri people did.”


WHY DID YOU POST THIS IF YOU DON'T SUPPORT BUHARI?

chiagozien:
let everybody carry his own cross.

I dont believe in any collaboration with yorubas or hausafulanis,because if
something negative happen on this particular administration now,you yorubas and hausafulanis will tag it igbo this igbo that.

To you guys,only Igbos is against this government.

This is a post from you and I want you to read how self contradicting you sound, even to yourself https://www.nairaland.com/4226145/why-hausa-yoruba-muslim-not

The only issue we have now in Nigeria is the problem and hausa/fulani, don't delude yourself o

bullabong:
what is he protesting against? Everyone wants to take the easy route to power just like his cronies Kanu and co. Work your way intelligently to power and not endanger the masses who will be shot at.

and the masses are not being shot at now? Do you even read the news and see how much injustice is being done to Nigerians in their homes?


Whether we protest or we don't, we die, why don't we die for something tangible?

owunabastard:

Everybody claiming Igbo to disorganize south. But the only way this country can achieve some certain things like regional government is when the politicians tell themselves the truth and allow it to be, but the truth is that they are enjoying one Nigeria.
Another way Nigeria can be revolutionized, is if military just take over and arrange everything by themselves.
Telling me Sowore revolution will change anything is a big lie. Nothing will change even if youths troops out and demand good governance.

LET'S TRY IT FIRST AND AFTER WE HAVE FAILED, LIKE YOU SAY, THEN WE WILL KNOW WE TRIED OUR BEST, AND THE COMING GENERATION WILL NOT CALL US USELESS.

MelesZenawi:


If you really have know histories and accounts.
You. Won't have written that.

Affliction shall not arise the second time.

Perhaps you should school me, my professor of Nigerian History and Effects

MelesZenawi:


If you really have know histories and accounts.
You. Won't have written that.

Affliction shall not arise the second time.

Perhaps you should school me, my professor of Nigerian History and Effects

Senatorbng:
Let him line up his wife and children then renounce his citizenship of other countries abroad. Then we will start talking from there.

Do you think Sowore is poor? Dude, the guy is rich, his cries for revolutions are not for himself alone, it is for us

chiagozien:
those that fail to learn from history,allows it to repeat.


As an Igbo man i can never join yorubas and hausafulanis in any form of revolution.

do you mean history that has been written and written plenty times that it is hard to find the true narrative of the events that happened?

Why not make history instead of letting other's narratives of history affect you?


We have to be aware that we are up against machinations that have been in existent for decades and these people are smart and have come up with defence for every and any alternative, it is our collective IGBOS and YORUBA Responsibility to destroy that whole of jericho.

izombie:
why do you people preach one south only when it suits you? Igbos are not fools. We are alone in this country and the yorubas and hausas should keep their distance biko. Fact is, no matter how bad nigeria gets, my igbo people will thrive. You want us to join in this protest but you have never supported the igbos on anything.

And I don't like saying this but you guys have problems within yourselves so much that to start and support any revolution or struggle from your side is like a hara-kiri. You guys have true IGBOS, half IGBOS and Jewish IGBOS and it showed during the Nmamdi Kanu and IPOB issues.

A house that stands against itself cannot prosper.

izombie:
why do you people preach one south only when it suits you? Igbos are not fools. We are alone in this country and the yorubas and hausas should keep their distance biko. Fact is, no matter how bad nigeria gets, my igbo people will thrive. You want us to join in this protest but you have never supported the igbos on anything.

How many struggles have you started and you see yoruba (AND BY YORUBA, I DON'T MEAN THE GREEDY TRAITOROUS ONES) against you, especially Off-line

The truth be told, after civil war, IGBOS have been submissive and the yoruba has been the scapegoats for Northern elders, until recently but that's a story for another day.

KingOdart:


Some people are going to tag it Yoruba revolution

So things have to be set straight before they continue

does it matter what people term it, people will always talk and give rubbish opinion, our main purpose is to look past those rubbish opinions and set for our goals.

How will they term it YORUBA REVOLUTION IF IT LEADS TO BIAFRA STATE THAT IGBOS WANT — AND I ALSO WANT?

In war, The End Justified The Means, and this is a mental war as well physical one