₦airaland Forum

Desric: And was his logic wrong in your view? he's seen the numerical strength of other regions and knows what need to be done to win his election and he was in fact been very honest, frank and real with the situation. Besides, it'd have also been a waste if he had gone to the south to campaign for votes as they wouldn't have listened to him as a result of him being a Northern so the bias was already there even before independence so what was the need for the hurry knowing fully well how we are.

a man who said with his own mouth that the reason nigeria cannot govern themselves is due to tribalism, the same man went on to institute that tribalism. Using that tribalism to assure his region a permanent governing majority. How do you think that country will survive. He created what he hypocritical preached against. If the independence constitution allocated equal number of seats to all region and all regional and tribal parties, NPC, AG, NCNC had to canvass the country for votes knowing that only their region can't win them elections, they have to create coalitions. Would'nt that have fostered unity in a divided nation. Rather you give the middle finger to the south and say our northern votes will always gives us a majority so we don't even need to campaign.

Desric: Everything wouldn't have been better if they've stayed a little longer neither am I saying that they should have stayed forever, rather if we've come together or reasoned what the gentleman said, maybe we'd have come to a compromise on how ready and prepared we are as a people to demand for independence before clamouring for it because it's very obvious that what the average statesman wanted then was just for Nigeria to be pronounced independent, otherwise, the man was damn very right by his statement.

the man was a bloody hypocrite!! He knew that the bain of nigeria's problem is tribalism!!! Who will rule if the nation becomes independent. That is what he meant by part of that quote. If that was his problem could'nt he have come together and forged a fair and balanced governance structure with the other regions? Rather, he made back room deals with the british who gave his region a higher population than others COMBINED. Thereby giving him more seats in the parliament and his party the NPC a permanent governing majority. During that election walter cronkite of CBS news interviewed him in his house in sokoto. He was asked why he is not campaigning around the country like azikiwe and awolowo. He said he does'nt need to. He has all the votes in the north to keep power for as long as he wants. He laughed at awolowo who was using helicopters to drop leaflets in northern cities like kano, he said he was wasting his time, his party, AG won't get a single northern vote. So this hypocrite perpetuated the reason he claims nigeria cannot govern itself. Stunning!!!

jaybee: You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to stand logic on its head simply because it came from from a visionary notherner. the man simply stated the truth; and what we are witnessing today in nigeria vindicates his position on self governance. we have bad, looting and arrogant governments today in nigeria chiefly because the masses have not fully understood the meaning of self governance. can you disprove this?

so because the nation has problems we would have remained indefinite subjects of the british empire? Hear yourself speak! It's ridiculous. If he believed he was not ready to govern himself he would have canvassed for a partitioning of nigeria. The south gets independence while his north remains loyal to the british crown. Rather than trashing the idea yet when it pulled through, the same bello made himself political godfather of the country he never belived in.

apolonius: Very ignorant post. Was Awo not an archangel of regionalism all his life?

Again,did Awo and Zik not contest the elections?Were they rigged out?

Power is contested for and won,not given on a platter.In those times,elections were credible,and the guys who won led. You want to rewrite history?

rubbish!! You're the ignorant one. The british before independence conducted a skewed census which gave the north a higher population than the east and west combined thereby giving them more seats in parliament and therefore giving the NPC a permanent monopoly of the nigerian government and you call that "credible" and fair? The british orchestrated a permanent monopoly of government for their northern stooges so thank God for the ironsi coup.

bushdoc9919: The NPC did not like the British that much too(in fact some founding members of the NPC used to be in the NCNC and the Zikist movement..including one who in 1947 had some uncomplimentary things to say about the British).

The NCNC-NPC alliance was basically as a result of the enmity between NCNC and AG....which goes back to 1951( and don't ask me who was right on that issue).

In fact,your comment about Balewa and Sir Bello shows how little you understand British parliamentary system...the NCNC chose to ally itself with the NPC....when it could have allied itself with AG..and continued its alliance with NEPU(the party of Aminu Kano).And since the NPC was the majority party in the alliance(and the NPC was not necessarily a Hausa party....they had a lot of Northern minorities then...the North of the early 60's is different from the North today)...they got the plum jobs.

I don't need a lecture on the workings of the westminster system of government. I don't understand what you said up there what you were saying up there, apparently, you have deviated but it is FACT that the NPC was a colonial sympatiser and they maintained those sympaties into independence. That is why the british virtually gave them a monopoly of power when they left through the census crisis which said the north had more population combined than the north, this was a reversal from an earlier result which said the south had more. This gave the north more seats in the federal parliament. And the NPC had all northern votes in it's arsenal so they virtually were sure of a govening monopoly after every election. Why do you think they did'nt bother campaigning in the south while obafemi awolowo had to virtually higher helicopter to campaign and drop leflets in northern cities. That is why I say thank God for the january 15, 1966 coup that brought an early end to northern govening monopoly.

Desric: If I say you are a mediocre, Will I be making a mistake? alright, in your own personal view, have we been able to govern ourselves, hasn't it been suicidal ever since? I think you forgot to highlight this statement that "Self government for Nigeria could only be demanded when its meaning was fully understood by the masses of the country".Ponder on this, and if you understand English language very well and conversant with the Nigerian Nation then ask yourself if the gentleman (may his soul rest in peace) has said anything wrong.

you will be because you are the real mediocre. It is perfectly understandable if he believes nigeria cannot govern itself due to the tribal divisions but is the solution to be ruled indefinitely by the british? Then, there were people canvassing for a divided nation...would'nt that have been a better solution to our tribal nation? So because of tribalism the british would have continued ruling us? For how long? When would they have magically made us brotherly nations and left? 1970? 1980? 1990? 2005? 55 years as a nations and we have'nt been able to conquer our tribalism and you believe if the british had stayed with us a little longer everything would have been better. Pathetic!!

maxit2: Bro, like it or not. That dude was right.
9ja would have been better today if the British had stayed longer.
Our independence was damn premature.

more than half a century after almagamation, nigeria was not ready for self governance? so you believe 50 or 100 more years of british rule who has eviscerated nigeria's tribal divisions which is the bain of our problems right now? What do you think the british would have done post 1960 that they could'nt have done since 1914?

bushdoc9919: 1.Azikiwe....in his position as Governor General of Nigeria (until 1963, when we became a Republic) was a member of the Privy Council...the highest governing Council of the British Empire...that is why he had the title ''Right Honorable''

2.The Northerners refusal towards self government is true...and was due to tribal considerations.

3.Nigeria is underdeveloped because you Nigerians do not want to build and make things....you want to sit in offices and chop and share money

you forgot to mention that nnamdi azikiwe was also the first president of nigeria in 1963. His position as governor general was purely ceremonial and a ruse used by ahmadu bello and balewa to give the south a sense of inclusion. Yet people like azikiwe still worked assiduously to get the republican constitution which caught nigeria's ties with the british monarchy. Left for the NPC... Elizabeth ii would have remained our head of state.

When asked if he thinks nigeria should be independent, this is what Ahmadu bello, the then most powerful man in the north and leader of the NPC had to say.

"Self government for nigeria could only be demanded when it's meaning was fully understood by the masses of the country with things in their present state in nigeria. The northern region does not intent to accept an INVITATION TO SUCIDE"

This is how low he thought of nigeria and our ability to govern ourselves, yet upon independence he and his party dominated a government thy never believed in. He and his party were british stooges. No wonder he and tafawa balewa were british "knights" while azikiwe and awolowo were'nt. I saw this quote recently and it really disturbed me and gave me a glimpse of the genesis of nigeria's problems.

Scyllapatron: @ OP - can we have more pics from Swaziland pls

give the people what they want!!

igbokwesampson: Nice research

thank you!

claireshan: y is she not wearing any bra or clothes ?

it's their tradition. Every year, hundreds of topless virgins dance before the king and he picks a wife amongs them.

ladyfeli: Plz y is DAT woman on black angry??

she is the first wife and the other three are are junoir wives but they have taken predominance over her. No woman in that situation will be happy... Now I'm just speculating.

ROYAL FAMILY OF SWAZILAND.

ROYAL FAMILY OF THAILAND.

ROYAL FAMILY OF SAUDI ARABIA.
The abdullah's

FIRST FAMILY OF ARGENTINA.
The krichner's.

FIRST FAMILY OF MEXICO.
The pena nieto's

FIRST FAMILY OF THE UNITED STATES.
The obama's.

FIRST FAMILY OF ISREAL.
The netanyahu's.

FIRST FAMILY OF CANADA.
The harper's.

FIRST FAMILY OF NEW ZEALAND.
The key's.

FIRST FAMILY OF AUSTRALIA.
The abbot's.

JAPANESE ROYAL FAMILY.

FIRST FAMILY OF RUSSIA.
The putin's

SWEDISH ROYAL FAMILY.
The gustaff's

DUTCH ROYAL FAMILY.

SPANISH ROYAL FAMILY
The bourbons.

FIRST FAMILY OF FRANCE.
The holland's.

FIRST FAMILY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
The cameron's.

ROYAL FAMILY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
The windsors.

FIRST FAMILY OF MOROCCO.
The mohammed's