Nigerian Sayings
KEITH KYLE writes: Nigerian politicians are fast men on the quote. In the undelivered broadcast that was to have followed the botched-up election President Azikiwe (Zik) recalled the words of President James A. Garfield, which, he said, had inspired him to study in the US: 'The men who succeed best in public life are those who take the risk of standing by their convictions.' He had warned the Northerners not to let the election grind on by the predetermined timetable : 'It would be a pyrrhic victory. Students of history know that no Carthaginian treaty has ever satisfactorily resolved human problems: . . . It was part of President Woodrow Wilson's, address to the American Senate. . .
Zik was to have refuted the rumour that he wanted to be executive President. 'I do not thirst for naked power . . . Consummatum est: it is finished! The independence of Nigeria was like a
flame which consumed my political ambition.' The President was to have announced that: 'I find it extremely awkward to exercise the power to call upon any person to form a government. True, the Constitution is clear on the issue but my decision is that I will not exercise such a power . . . Napoleon, one of the greatest rulers of history once said. . .
But the speech was undelivered. Tafawa Balewa was called upon. He has formed a scratch govern- ment which contains only one member of the defeated UPGA Party group, but as this man had just been elected Parliamentary leader of the UPGA, the promise to 'reshuffle' the Cabinet after 'outstanding elections' have been 'completed' in areas which boycotted election day presumably presages a formal coalition.
A week before election day both the Inspector General of Police and the Chairman of the constitutionally entrenched Electoral Commis- sion, Mr. .Eyo Eyo Esua, came on to the radio with statements that grave electoral irregularities had taken place in some of the eighty-one constituencies where candidates were declared 're- turned unopposed.' The UPGA (predominantly Southern) party then demanded that elections be postponed. It published its brief of complaints to the Electoral Commission: Constituency No. 39. Nominators arrested by Native Authority police. Candidate escaped. Constituency No. 138. On the candidate's arrival [at the nomination centre] he was charged and bcatdn up. He escaped into the bush. . . . Constituency No. 139. Native Authority police refused candidate entry into the town. Candidate subsequently killed. . . .
In the last days of the year Southern papers were working up to a show-down. It came out in the headlines: 'ELECTION: TO BE OR NOT TO 1313' (Nigerian Outlook, December 24), 'THOSE THAT HAVE EARS' (West African Pilot, December 28); 'THINK ON THESE THINGS' (Pilot, December 30).
Zik zigged and zagged between the two brinks : disaster by accepting the farcical • election or disaster by himself exceeding the President's constitutional powers. On December 28 he pro- posed to the Prime Minister that the elections be put off for six months and that the United Nations be asked to supervise them. Tafawa Balewa re- jected this as inconsistent with Nigeria's inde- pendence but agreed that the Regional Governors and Premiers should be summoned to mediate between the two of them the following day.
Governor (North) to President : 'I strongly recommend that any meeting to Ye held between us should be under the chairmanship of an un- biased person and that such a meeting cannot be held before the election.'
President to Governor (North): `. . . One point of etiquette. Please be more restrained in the phrasing of the contents of your corres- pondence with the Head of State. Noblesse oblige.'
Constitutionally, only the Electoral Commis- sion could decide that the elections would not go ahead. Mr. Eyo Eyo Asua announced that no such postponement would occur, whereupon three of the six members of the Commission brought their resignations to the President on the ground that the irregularities justified total postponement. The 'election' was then held in conditions of confusion and farce.
Much now depended on Dr. Michael Okpara, the UPGA's national leader and Premier of the Eastern Region. Okpara was born on Christmas Day, which the columnist of the Eastern Govern- ment-sponsored newspaper hinted to be more than a coincidence.
. . . it is interesting that their birthdays fell on the same day. The one .. . sacrificed every- thing in order to save humanity from the clutches of sin. The other . . . sacrifices every- thing including youthful enjoyment in order that he may save the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Christ was betrayed.. . .
All Okpara managed to say was: 'Why don't our opponents make statements? The ball is no longer in our court. All we have to do is to wait and see.' At this point Nigeria's astonishingly large number of 'establishment figures'—Kings (Obas), Chief Justices, Development Board Chairmen, University Vice-Chancellors—brought their collective and individual weights to bear on the President. The broadcast was undelivered.
Northerners are so far playing the crisis very cool. They can afford to : they are in possession. Tafawa Balewa is still Prime Minister. Zik's impotence has been revealed. The Sardauna, the victorious NNA's national leader and Northern Premier, called the East's bluff by alleging that it was planning secession, which forced it into weak denial instead of self-righteous defiance.
The West African Pilot commented: The- political crisis in Nigeria has not been finally resolved. • . . It was Abraham Lincoln who prophetically said that no nation could permanently survive half free and half slave....
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