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| The amalgamation of Nigeria was a FRAUD – Chief
Richard Akinjide, SAN (Nigeria’s former Attorney General and MInister of
Justice) |
(Being excerpts from the speech of Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN),
first and second Republic Minister, at the public presentation of the
book “Fellow Country Men- the story of Coup D’etats in Nigeria by
Richard Akinnola, June 2000)
I was in the first cabinet that was overthrown by the
military in this country. I entered parliame…nt in December 12, 1959.
And I remained in parliament until January 15, 1966 when the government
was overthrown. I was the Federal Minister of Education in that cabinet.
I woke up one morning in my official house in Ikoyi to discover that my
telephone was not working. I had never experienced coup before nor did I
know that it was a coup, thinking it was just a telephone fault; until a
colleague of mine in the cabinet Chief Abiodun Akerele, came in and
told me there had been a military coup. So I had the fortune or the
misfortune of being a victim of the first coup in this country.
Many people may not know that I spent 18 months in detention in
prisons across the country. I’ve spent time in KiriKiri prison, Ilesha
prison, Ibadan prison and the Abeokuta prison.
Two of us who were in Balewa’s government emerged when the military
handed over to the civilians in 1979 as part of the civilian
government. In Balewa’s government, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was the
Minister of Works while I was the Minister of Education. When the
military handed over to us after about 14 years, Shagari emerged as the
President while I became the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Again, Shagari’s government was overthrown just a few months after I
left the cabinet. Of course, we suspected it was coming. A lot of things
that happened between that period and now would never see the light of
the day. When you are in government, you know a lot of things, you see a
lot of things. A lot of things you know or did or saw will die with
you.
This is the practice of the whole world. People have asked me to
write my memoirs, I just laugh because there are certain things I can
never reveal.
When I was in Tafawa Balewa’s Cabinet, all Cabinet Ministers had
access to written intelligence report every month. That was the practice
at that time. But when Shagari came in, for reasons which I cannot
explain, that practice was no longer followed. But by virtue of my
duties as the Attorney-General and as a member of the National Security
Council, I continued to have access to some sensitive matters.
Nigeria is a very complex country. Our problems did not start
yesterday. It started about 1894. Lord Lugard came here about 1894 and
many people did not know that Major Lugard was not originally employed
by the British government. He was employed by companies. He was first
employed by East Indian Company, by the Royal East African Company and
then by the Royal Niger Company. It was from the Royal Niger Company
that he transferred to the British government.
Unless you know this background, you will not know the root causes
of our problems. The interest of the Europeans in Africa and indeed in
Nigeria was economic and it’s still economic. They have no permanent
friends and no permanent interest. Neither their interest nor their
friends are permanent. Nigeria was created as British sphere of
interests for business.
In 1898, Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force initially
with 2,000 soldiers and that was the beginning of our problems. Anybody
that wants to know the root cause of all the coups in this book and our
present problems and who does not know the evolution of Nigeria would
just be looking at the matter superficially. Our problems started from
that time. And Lugard was what they called at that time imperialist. A
number of British soldiers, businessmen, politicians were very
patriotic. But I must warn you, they were operating in the interest of
their country. Lugard became a Lord. Nigerians, too, should operate in
the interest of their country.
When Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force with 2,000
troops, about 90 percent of them were from the North mainly from the
middle belt. And his dispatches to London between that time and January
1914 was extremely interesting. Lugard came here for a purpose and that
purpose was British interest.
Between 1898 and 1914, he sent a number of dispatches to London
which led to the Amalgamation of 1914. The Order-in-Council was drawn up
in November 1913, signed and came into force in January 1914. In those
dispatches, Lugard said a number of things which are the root causes of
yesterday and today’s problems. The British needed the Railway from the
North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation of
the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British
business interest.
He said the North and South should be amalgamated. Southern Nigeria
came into existence on January 1900…….At the centenary of the fall of
Benin, I wrote a piece in a number of papers but before I published the
piece, I sent a copy to the Oba of Benin.
So when Benin was conquered in 1896, it made the creation of the
Southern Nigerian protectorate possible on January 1, 1900. If you
remember, Sokoto was not conquered until 1903. So, there was no question
of Nigeria at that time. After the conquest of Sokoto, they were able
to create the Northern Nigeria protectorate. Lugard went full blast and
created what was to be known as the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
What is critical and important are the reasons Lugard gave in his dispatches. They are as follows:
He said the North is poor and they have no resources to run the
protectorate of the North. That they have no access to the sea; that the
South has resources and that they have educated people. The first
Yoruba Lawyer was called to the Bar in 1861. Therefore, because it was
not the policy of the British Government to bring the tax-payers money
to run the protectorate, it was in the interest of the British tax payer
that there should be Amalgamation. But what the British Amalgamated was
the Administration of the North and South. That is one of the root
causes of the problems of Nigeria and the Nigerians.
When the amalgamation took effect, the British government sealed
off the South from the North. And between 1914 and 1960, that’s a period
of 46 years, the British allowed minimum contact between the North and
South because it was not in the British interest that the North be
allowed to be polluted by the educated South. That was the basis on
which we got our independence in 1960 when I was in the parliament. I
entered parliament on December 12, 1959.
When the North formed a political party, the Northern leaders
called it Northern People’s Congress (NPC). They didn’t call it
Nigeria’s people Congress. That was in accordance with the dictum and
policies of Lugard. When Aminu Kano formed his own party, it was called
Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) not Nigerian Elements
Progressive Union. It was only Awolowo and Zik who were mistaken that
there was anything called Nigeria. In fact, the so-called Nigeria
created in 1914 was a complete fraud. It was created not in the interest
of Nigeria or Nigerians but in the interest of the British. And what
were the structures created? The structures created were as follows:
Northern Nigeria was to represent England; Western Nigeria like Wales;
Eastern Nigeria was to be like Scotland.
In the British structure, England has permanent majority in the
House of Commons. There was no way Wales can ever dominate England,
neither can Scotland dominate Britain. But they are very shrewd. They
would allow a Scottish man to become Prime Minister. They would allow a
welsh man to become Prime Minister in London but the fact remains that
the actual power is rested in England.
That was what Lugard created In Nigeria, a permanent majority for
the North. The population figure is also a fraud. In fact, a British
Colonial Civil Servant who was involved in the fraud was trying to
expose it but he was never allowed to publish it.
The analysis is as follows: If you look at the map of West Africa,
starting from Mauritania to Cameroun and take a population of each
country as you move from the Coast to Savannah, the population
decreases. Or conversely, as you come from the Desert to the Coast,
right from Mauritania to Cameroun, the population increases.
The only exception throughout the zone is Nigeria. Nigeria is the
only Zone whereby you go from the Coast to the North, the population
increases and you come from the North to the Coast, the population
decreases. Well, geographers, anthropologists and population experts,
draw your conclusions. Someone has told me that the last population
census was done by computer. What nonsense. A computer is as good as its
programmer. A computer will produce what you ask it to produce.
I have read this book from cover to cover. This is a fantastic
book. I want us to find a way to ensure that many Nigerians read this
book. It is a raw material for future authors. There is one thing which
is missing in this book and that is the first broadcast of General
Ibrahim Babaginda when he assumed power in 1985. The broadcast is very
crucial to the economic problems we have today.
Talking on the first coup, when Balewa got missing, we knew
Okotie-Eboh had been killed, we knew Akintola had been killed. We the
members of the Balewa cabinet started meeting. But how can we have a
cabinet meeting without the Prime Minister acting or the Prime Minister
presiding. So, unanimously, we nominated acting Prime Minister amongst
us. Then we continued holding our meetings. Then we got a message that
we should all assemble at the Cabinet office.
All the Ministers were requested by the G.O.C. of the Nigerian
Army, General Ironsi to assemble. What was amazing at that time was that
Ironsi was going all over Lagos unarmed. We assembled there, having
nominating Zana Diphcharima as our acting prime minister in the absence
of the Prime Minister, whose where about we didn’t know. We approached
the acting President, Nwafor Orizu to swear him in because he could not
legitimately act as the Prime Minister except he was sworn in. Nwafor
Orizu refused. He said he needed to contact Zik who was then in West
Indies.
Under the Law, that is, the interpretation Act, as acting President, Nwafor Orizu had all the powers of the President.
The G.O.C said he wanted to see all the cabinet ministers. And so
we assembled at the cabinet office. Well, I have read in many books
saying that we handed over to the military. We did not hand-over. Ironsi
told us that “you either hand over as gentlemen or you hand-over by
force”. These were his words. Is that voluntary hand-over? So we did not
hand-over. We wanted the Acting Prime Minister to be in place but
Ironsi forced us, and I use the word force advisedly, to handover to
him. He was controlling the soldiers.
The acting President, Nwafor Orizu, who did not cooperate with us,
cooperated with the GOC. Dr. Orizu and the GOC prepared speeches which
Nwafor Orizu broadcast handing over to the government of the country to
the army. I here state again categorically as a member of that cabinet
that we did not hand-over voluntarily. It was a coup.
