₦airaland Forum

dingbang:
Men who shaped Nigeria... Not all these dullards that are trying to destroy Nigeria

.... Today’s ceremony marks the culmination of a process which began fifteen years ago and has now reached a happy and successful conclusion. It is with justifiable pride that we claim the achievement of our Independence to be unparalleled in the annals of history.

Each step of our constitutional advance has been purposefully and peacefully planned with full and open consultation, not only between representatives of all the various interests in Nigeria but in harmonious cooperation with the administering power which has today relinquished its authority.

At the time when our constitutional development entered upon its final phase, the emphasis was largely upon self-government. We, the elected representatives of the people of Nigeria, concentrated on proving that we were fully capable of managing our own affairs both internally and as a nation.

However, we were not to be allowed the selfish luxury of focusing our interest on our own homes. In these days of rapid communications we cannot live in isolation, apart from the rest of the world, even if we wished to do so. All too soon it has become evident that for us Independence implies a great deal more than self-government. This great country, which has now emerged without bitterness or bloodshed, finds that she must at once be ready to deal with grave international issues.

This fact has of recent months been unhappily emphasized by the startling events which have occurred in this continent. I shall not labour the point but it would be unrealistic not to draw attention first to the awe-inspiring task confronting us at the very start of our nationhood.

When this day in October 1960 was chosen for our Independence it seemed that we were destined to move with quiet dignity to place on the world stage. Recent events have changed the scene beyond recognition, so that we find ourselves today being tested to the utmost

We are called upon immediately to show that our claims to responsible government are well-founded, and having been accepted as an independent state we must at once play an active part in maintaining the peace of the world and in preserving civilisation. I promise you, we shall not fail for want of determination.

And we come to this task better-equipped than many. For this, I pay tribute to the manner in which successive British Governments have gradually transferred the burden of responsibility to our shoulders. The assistance and unfailing encouragement which we have received from each Secretary of State for the Colonies and their intense personal interest in our development has immeasurably lightened that burden.

All our friends in the Colonial Office must today be proud of their handiwork and in the knowledge that they have helped to lay the foundations of a lasting friendship between our two nations. I have indeed every confidence that, based on the happy experience of a successful partnership, our future relations with the United Kingdom will be more cordial than ever, bound together, as we shall be in the Commonwealth, by a common allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, whom today we proudly acclaim as Queen of Nigeria and Head of the Commonwealth.

Time will not permit the individual mention of all those friends, many of them Nigerians, whose selfless labours have contributed to our Independence. Some have not lived to see the fulfilment of their hopes—on them be peace—but nevertheless they are remembered here, and the names of buildings and streets and roads and bridges throughout the country recall to our minds their achievements, some of them on a national scale. Others confined, perhaps, to a small area in one Division, are more humble but of equal value in the sum-total.

Today, we have with us representatives of those who have made Nigeria: Representatives of the Regional Governments, of former Central Governments, of the Missionary Societies, and of the Banking and Commercial enterprises, and members, both past and present, of the Public Service. We welcome you, and we rejoice that you have been able to come and share in our celebrations. We wish that it could have been possible for all of those whom you represent to be here today:

Many, I know, will be disappointed to be absent, but if they are listening to me now, I say to them: ‘Thank you on behalf of my country, Thank you for your devoted service which helped build up Nigeria into a nation. Today we are reaping the harvest which you sowed, and the quality of the harvest is equalled only by our gratitude to you. May God bless you all.

Sources:
_{Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mr. Prime Minister: A Selection of Speeches Made by Alhaji the Right Honourable Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, K.B.E., M.P., Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Apapa: Nigerian National Press, Ltd., 1964).} - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1960-sir-abubakar-tafawa-balewa-independence-day#sthash.AaOqRtb6.dpuf

Tafawa Balewa, a man of distinction

The same coup that consumed the Sardauna also snuffed life out of the nation’s first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa on January 15, 1966. He was abducted and later killed by Emmanuel Ifeajuna, one of the five majors that plotted the first coup, and who was assigned the role of operation in the mutineers’ action plan.

His body was not found until Jan. 21 that year. Born in 1912 in Tafawa Balewa in Bauchi, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was described as a ‘cool figure’ who pre-occupied himself with holding together Nigeria’s more than 250 ethnic groups. Presiding over some major political upheavals in the nation’s history, he was a man guided by a sense of moderation and the 1965 election crisis in the Western region was his greatest challenge.

Popularly referred to as ‘Balewa the Good,’ he had a humble background from the Jere ethnic group (a branch of the Hausa). His assassination was described as “the most regretted in Nigeria,” due to his humility, Spartan lifestyle, commonsense, and tolerance.
A man of “unusual authority” and “possessed of the gravitas of a statesman,” Tafawa Balewa must have been a soothsayer of sort to have foretold what a post-independence Nigeria would look like.

According to his biographer, Trevor Clark in his book “A Right Honourable Gentleman: The Life and Times of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,” Balewa had said that “an independent Nigeria would be likely to founder on tribal differences and on corruption,” and he was doubtful whether the British-style Wesminister democracy would be the ideal system for an ethnically divided Nigeria.

He never under-estimated Nigeria’s political weaknesses and was said to have admitted Nigeria’s cross road status in pursuit of political relevance: “The trouble is that the Nigeria Member of Parliament wants to criticize the government and to be in it at the same time. Democracy, democracy, what is it? There is American democracy –British democracy. Why not Nigerian democracy? I wish we could find that.” Perhaps the search has continued to elude Nigeria.

Described as the man with ‘the golden voice’ because of his oratorial powers and eloquence, Balewa spoke “convincingly, meaningfully and truthfully,” concerning the imperative of justice and transparent honesty, as he was reported to have told the Chief Justice of Nigeria (1958 to 1972), Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, who himself wrote a forward in the above-mentioned book. “I remember one of his sayings to me from time to time, ‘CJ, if I do anything wrong and I am brought before you, deal with me; and if necessary send me to jail….” Sir Adetokunbo wrote that Balewa often repeated and emphasized this point.

And as a measure of his sincerity in his task of building a new nation, Sir Adetokunbo said the prime minister had often put himself on the spot by his own utterance. “If this people do not want me any more, all they need do is to give me about two hours’ notice, and this is enough for me to pack my few belongings here and leave.”

Unfortunately the assassins never gave him the chance to once again display that modesty that leadership should bestow and which only the great Balewa had monopoly of.

Again, to quote Clark, “his murder in 1966, perpetuated in the arrogance of ignorant brutishness, appalled and affronted me as did countless others…” http://www.arewaonline-ng.com/sardauna/articles_002.html

Baban Kowa: A Tribute To Cop Who Found Tafawa Balewa, Okotie-Eboh’s Bodies
— Sep 11, 2015 3:43 am | By Jaafar Jaafar.

On Wednesday morning, the nation awoke to the death of one of the gallant policemen Kano State, and perhaps the nation, has ever produced. He was Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Babankowa – a policeman, a businessman, a politician, and traditional title holder.

Aside leading the operation that led to the discovery of the bodies of late Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, First Republic Minister of Finance Festus Okotie-Eboh and others, Babankowa also led the earliest offensive against Maitatsine insurgents of Kano, helped in quelling Tiv riot and the Wild, Wild West crisis..... An all-time opposition politician, Babankowa remained reclusive in the last one decade at his Tokarawa residence.

Babankowa was the most regular goer of Tafsir sessions of Tijjani Bala Kalarawi at ‘Yanbaher in Fagge area.

But how did this gallant cop find the late Prime Minister’s body? Below is his account in an interview with Vanguard:

“I remained at Sango-Ota up to January 15th 1966, the day the first military coup took place in Nigeria. On the night of the coup, I was at a police checkpoint in Sango Ota when a convoy of Army Land Rover, Trucks, and two Peugeot saloon cars were moving from Lagos to Abeokuta and we had no cause to suspect anything sinister because they were military vehicles presumably on a complimentary patrol to restore order.

“Little did I know that those military vehicles were indeed conveying the Nigerian leaders to their death? We were perhaps the last group of people that saw them alive. We later discovered the vehicle stopped about three kilometers away from our checkpoint and diverted into a nearby forest where they shot and killed the Prime Minister, Okotie-Eboh, and this was on a Friday night, January 15th 1966.

“About an hour later these same military convoy came back and headed towards Lagos. The following morning we learnt that there was a military coup. While the chaotic situation remained, the prime minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa was reportedly removed from his residence and taken to an unknown location.

How did you discover where the Prime Minister and the minister were dumped?

“I got a clue on the fourth day of his death I had gone to the clinic at Sango Ota to get medication at the only clinic then in the town that equally served as General Hospital, when I picked a loose conversation between some patients at the clinic.

They said in Yoruba that there was an unpleasant smell around their neighbourhood, and they didn’t know what was causing it and I later found out that those women came from a village along Abeokuta highway.”

What was your reaction to the clue ?
“The nature of the operations dramatically changed as I divided my anti-riot unit squad into two. I deployed a unit to comb the area, and that was how we came across the spot in the forest where we beheld a horrible spectacle.

What did you discover?
“We saw the decomposing corpses of the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Okotie –Eboh , Colonel Kur Muhammad, Colonel Abogo Largema and two others.

I was shocked and reported my findings to the Inspector General immediately through the nearest police station at Ikeja Provisional Headquarters where the officer in charge, Alhaji Kafaru Tinubu, allowed me access to use the facility. I told the IG that I had sighted and identified the dead bodies of the Prime Minister and others and that I was awaiting further instructions.

Incidentally the substantive IG, the late Mr. L O Edet was on leave and the late Alhaji Kam Salem was acting. I was subsequently directed to move to the Force Headquarters and to facilitate my quick arrival he asked me to use siren when coming to Lagos.

By the time I got to Lagos, General Aguiyi Ironsi had already taken over power as the first military Head of state , and located himself to the Moloney Street Force Headquarters. Before I was let in, I was disarmed by the military personnel who were there waiting for me. They seized my weapons a gun and a pistol.

They also went ahead to remove my boots, belt and cap before I was marched bare footed before the Inspector General who was sitting in company of the new Head of state, General Ironsi.

As I arrived in the office, Kam Salem did not utter a word, but General Ironsi said to me in Hausa, “officer, Ka ce kaga gawar Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa da ta wasu mutane”? meaning “Officer you said you have sighted the corpses of the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and others”? and I said “Yes, Sir”.

General Ironsi asked again “How did you know him”? and I said “ well I had worked with the Sardauna of Sokoto as his Security officer, and Sardauna and Balewa were very close, and I knew the Prime Minister very well”.

What happened thereafter?
I was marched out, and General Ironsi directed I should be detained at the Naval Base, Apapa, but the IG told him that “if you wouldn’t mind we can put him in detention here in our own custody and produce him at any hour you want him.’‘ General Ironsi accepted the IG plea, and I was hounded into detention at Yaba Police station.

At about mid night the ADC to the late Prime minister, Mr Kaftan, and the then Madaki of Bauchi who was an in-law to Alhaji Tafawa-Balewa came with an ambulance and a truck full of coffins, secured my release and directed I should lead them to the spot where the corpses were.

What happened at the forest?
We saw the mangled body of the prime minister crumbled under a tree, his cap (zanna) was lying by his right side. He wore a pure white guinea brocade gown which had already changed colour. As a result of advanced decomposition, numerous worms were coming out from his body.

We rolled over a white cloth, and had to bring my weight on his knee in order to straighten it to get a perfect position. We attended to the prime minister body first before others, and I marked his coffin with an Arabic inscription to avoid mix up. We conveyed his remain to the VIP section of the Ikeja airport where there were two waiting aircraft.

The Prime Minister’s corpse was placed in the baggage compartment of one of the aircraft which was also conveying members of his immediate family back to Bauchi for burial.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://leadership.ng/features/460219/baban-kowa-a-tribute-to-cop-who-found-tafawa-balewa-okotie-ebohs-bodies

MOSTEC:
So na beggar before

naptu2:
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Kids

https://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295781_10150381137272790_855475723_n.jpg

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa took his only annual leave in 1963, which he decided to spend in his village. A British photojournalist came down to Lagos to interview the Prime Minister, but was told that the P.M was on vacation. He asked to which country, but was shocked to hear that the P.M was in his village. On getting to the village, there was no evidence or paraphernalia to show that a “big man” was there; everyone was busy with their chores. He met a farmer with his donkey, carrying bales of sugarcane for the P.M’s home and he was utterly speechless when the farmer said, “I just left him. You will see him sitting on the floor with his kids, eating the sugarcane that I just gave them”. He met them like that and took this picture.

5 unfulfilled promises of the Jan 15, 1966 coup | Six years after Nigeria became a sovereign nation, the country witnessed an unprecedented development, which still haunts it 50 years after.Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, a major in the army, led some of his colleagues to overthrow a civilian government.

The casualties of that coup d’etat, which occurred on January 15, 1966, are Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, then the prime minister; Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto; Samuel Akintola, the premier of the Western Region; Festus Okotie-Eboh, the finance minister, among others.

Between then and now, Nigeria has witnessed at least eight coups and the objectives given for carrying out the coups were not achieved, meaning that military intervention is far from the solution that a country needs. In this piece, we highlight five lessons that Nigeria ought to have learnt from the first ever putsch.

COUPS DON’T WIPE CORRUPTION OUT

In his speech, Nzeogwu said the aim of the revolutionary council was to establish “a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife”.

But corruption is far from over in Nigeria despite the efforts of successive governments to rid the country of the menace. The problem of corruption is even getting deeper, proving that the the coup failed to achieve what was perhaps its most important aim.

THE ENEMIES ARE STILL WITH US

“Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent; those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds,” Nzeogwu said.

The coup leader made it clear that through the support and assistance of Nigerians, the so-called enemies would be defeated. One look at the polity and all these people are still intact.

THE NIGERIAN SHAME STILL A REALITY?

Whether the coup plotters meant it or not, one of their objectives was to make the citizens “no more ashamed to say that they are Nigerians”.

But the present realities show otherwise. Fifty years after that event, many Nigerians do not have patriotic spirit. While many countries which were at par with the country in the 60s have since joined global economies, Nigeria is still grappling with numerous challenges, leaving many with nothing but just associating with the country through identity. In any case, too many Nigerians are not proud of their nationality; not that they are unpatriotic, they’re just finding it hard to pinpoint how their country is serving them.

REFORMATION OF THE SOCIETY

As a measure to check immorality, the military regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, which seized power after the coup, introduced death penalty to prevent excesses such as looting, arson, homosexuality, rape, embezzlement, bribery or corruption, obstruction of the revolution, sabotage, subversion”.

Has the maximum sentence restored orderliness into the country? Everyone has the answer!

OPPRESSION EVERYWHERE

“We are not promising anything miraculous or spectacular. But what we do promise every law-abiding citizen is freedom from fear and all forms of oppression,” Nzeogwu had said.

Like other promises, the short-lived regime could not liberate the people in the exact manner it promised, and signs of oppression, even by the military itself, remain commonplace.

The plotters of that coup hinged their action on marginalisation of their ethnic group. Incidentally, there is a renewed campaign against this same ‘marginalisation’, with attempt to resuscitate the Republic of Biafra.

Nigeria’s unravelling over the past decades has shown that coups are far from the solution to any of the country’s problems. Hard to say if Nigerians have learnt this lesson, but time will surely tell.

Copyright 2017 TheCable. _{Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.thecable.ng as the source.}https://www.thecable.ng/5-unfulfilled-promises-of-the-jan-15-1966-coup