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| Anambra Election Boycott: Nnamdi Azikiwe also called for the BOYCOTT of Elections in Eastern Region in 1964 |
The call by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the boycott of the November, 2017 election, has generated a wide ranging sense of emotions from supporters and traducers. While the call had gained traction among Biafran, especially the younger generation, the Nigerian police has almost criminalised it and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the purported Igbo party, has come out to heavily criticise IT. Fearful Ohaneze Ndi Igbo, has also condemned the call and suggesting that the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu may be biting more than he can chew.
However, the call by the IPOB is as legitimate and rightful as the sit-at-home protest recently observed across Biafra. There is no law in Nigeria or even across the world that criminalises people from deciding not to participate in any election.
IPOB made the call for the boycott of the election for the following reasons:
1. As a protest to highlight the plight of Biafrans and their dissatisfaction with the Nigerian government. IPOB gave just one condition for participation of Biafrans in the election - a date for Biafran referendum. That is not too difficult for any sensible government.
2. IPOB made the call for the boycott of the election because Biafrans have not benefitted from all the elections they have been participating in Nigeria. So why waste time to vote in another criminal and murder who will loot the state's treasury, while the live of ordinary Biafran remains the same?
IPOB cited instances where APGA governors, Peter Obi (Ezu River) and Willie Obiano (Nkpor and Onitsha massacres) joined Nigerian security forces to kill Biafrans in cold blood.
That said, it has to be recalled that this is not the first time that elections have been boycotted in Biafra. As far back as 1964, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa) called for the boycott of the 1964-1965 Elections. The call was heeded and elections were boycotted and Zik and the boycott were not criminalised.
So why should IPOB's be criminalised?
Almost similar conditions as currently being expressed warranted the call by Azikiwe.
History
The federal parliamentary election campaign in December 1964 (the first since independence was contested by two political alliances Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) and United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) incorporating all the major parties). The northern Nigeria-oriented (Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) merged with the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), a splinter party of the AG led by S.L. Akintola, to form the NNA, with other smaller opposition parties representing ethnic minorities in the Midwestern and Eastern regions. The NNA adopted a platform that reflected the views of the northern political elite and, hence, was an attempt by the NPC to gain firmer control of federal politics through an alliance with the Western Region. Its appeal to voters outside the north was based essentially on the advantages to be gained from associating with the party in power. The NNA preyed on Yoruba fears of Igbo domination of the federal government.
On their part, the Zik-led National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) merged with the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group (AG) and two northern minority parties: the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) to form the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA).
The UPGA was employed in an attempt by the NCNC to use the two regional governments that it controlled as a springboard to domination of the federal government. Strategically it offered a reformist program, combining a planned economy that endorsed increased public spending while also encouraging private enterprise. The UPGA proposed to divide the country into states that reflected ethnicity. Its proposals were intended to undermine the existing regional basis of political power by creating a sufficient number of states in each region so that none of the major ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo--could dominate region). The UPGA presented itself as an alternative to northern and, more specifically, to Hausa-Fulani domination of the federal government. UPGA was convinced that it would win if the election were held in an atmosphere free from interference by ruling parties in the Northern Region and the Western Region.
The campaigns generated bitterness, acrimony and violence among the people, especially in the western region. Due to the formidability of the UPGA, there were overt and covert attempts by the ruling party the (NNA) to manipulate the elections. Among many manipulations, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa-led NNA government fiddled with the census results. Consequently, the election was postponed for several weeks due to discrepancies between the electoral register and census returns. Every attempt made by the UPGA to rectify this situation failed as the Hausa-Fulani oligarchs were bent on rigging the election.
Based on this, Azikiwe called for the boycott of the election. The boycott was effective in the Eastern Region, and Lagos where polling places did not open in fifty-one constituencies that had more than one candidate running for office. In other constituencies in the region, UPGA candidates ran unopposed. Nationwide, only 4 million voters cast ballots, out of 15 million who were eligible. The non-compliance of the boycott in other parts of Nigeria resulted in the NNA electing 198 candidates, of whom 162 represented the NPC, from the 261 constituencies returning results. As the President Azikiwe decided not to form a government to enable Balewa return as Prime Minister.
As was feared, UPGA was essentially rigged out of the elections, by the NNA with the power of incumbency. The ensuing violence provoked the January 1966 military revolution that later plunged the country into the Biafra-Nigeria War.
Pressures were mounted as Nigeria was on the brink of collapse, Azikiwe reluctantly agreed to ask Balewa to form a government with the NNA majority. Supplementary elections were held in March 1965 in the Eastern Region and in Lagos where the boycott had been honored. UPGA candidates were elected in all these constituencies, bringing the NCNC-dominated coalition a total of 108 seats in the House of Representatives. The UPGA became the official opposition.
After this decisive defeat, the UPGA prepared for the November 1965 legislative election in the Western Region in an attempt to gain control of the three southern regions and the Federal Territory of Lagos, the region surrounding the capital. If successful, the NPC-dominated NNA still would have controlled the House of Representatives, but it would have given the predominantly southern UPGA a majority in the Senate, whose members were chosen by the regional legislatures.
Once more NCNC was rigged out by the ruling NNA. Amid widespread charges of voting irregularities, Akintola's NNDP, supported by its NPC ally, scored an impressive victory in November. There were extensive protests, including considerable grumbling among senior army officials, at the apparent perversion of the democratic process. In the six months after the election, an estimated 2,000 people died in violence that erupted in the Western Region. In the face of the disorders, the beleaguered Balewa delegated extraordinary powers to the regional governments to deal with the situation. By this time, Azikiwe and the prime minister were scarcely on speaking terms, and there were suggestions that Nigeria's armed forces should restore order.
In January 1966, army officers attempted to seize power. In a well-coordinated action, the revolutionary soldiers overthrew the Balewa-led government with the intention of installing Obafemi Awolowo as the prime Minister of Nigeria. In a public proclamation, the coup leaders pledged to establish a strong and efficient government committed to a progressive program and eventually to new elections. They vowed to stamp out corruption and to suppress violence. Despite the bloody and calculated character of the coup, these sentiments appealed directly to younger, educated Nigerians in all parts of the country.
The army's commander in chief, Major General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, quickly intervened to restore discipline within the army. In the absence of Azikiwe, who was undergoing treatment in a London hospital, Balewa's shaken cabinet resigned, leaving the reins of authority to the armed forces. Ironsi, also an Igbo, suspended the constitution, dissolved all legislative bodies, banned political parties, and as an interim measure formed a Federal Military Government (FMG) to prepare the country for a return to civilian rule at an unspecified date. He appointed military governors in each region and assigned officers to ministerial positions, instructing them to implement sweeping institutional reforms.
From the Archives: The forgotten political crisis of 1964 and the coup of 1966
Between 1960 (the year of Independence) and 1966 (the year of first military coup), many events of great political importance had taken place.
The area called Mid-Western State (consisting of non-Yoruba people) was carved out of the Western Region – leaving the Eastern and Northern Regions (with their restless minorities) intact.
The ruling party in Western Region (Action Group) had split into two factions – one led by Chief Awolowo and the other led by Chief Akintola. After the expulsion of Chief Akintola from AG, he formed a new party, NNDP with a section of the NCNC (West) under Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, a Cambridge University trained lawyer and father of Femi Fani-Kayode.
The NNDP later merged with the ruling party (NPC) to form NNA. The NCNC and the remnants of NCN (West) and Awo‘s faction of Action Group merged to form UPGA under the leadership of Dr M. I. Okpara, the Eastern Region Premier. Chief Awolowo had been jailed for treasonable felony.
It was UPGA that precipitated the political crisis of 1964 by refusing to participate in 1964 elections on the ground of irregularities – absence of free, fair and just elections in Northern and Western Regions.
The party asked the President, Dr Azikiwe not to invite the parliamentary leader of the victorious party, NNA, to form a new government. However, the President agreed to ask the Prime Minister to form a broadly based national government (after he had been legally advised that under the 1963 Constitution, the President could not by himself form a new government).
The 6-point programme submitted by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola and Chief Justice of Eastern Region, Sir Louis Mbanefo which included the formation of a national government and dissolution of the Western House of Assembly (to allow for new elections) was adopted reluctantly by both UPGA and NNA.
Later, it turned out that the Peace of 1965 was not satisfactory to UPGA supporters. The Yoruba wing was not happy because Awolowo‘s release from prison was not part of the negotiation and the Akintola government could not be voted out in an election believed to have been heavily rigged. Western Region became really Wild, Wild West, with violence as an acceptable weapon of settling political differences.
Political violence became widespread and unbearable that something had to happen. The coup of 1966 (a year after the Peace of 1965) was popular in many parts of Eastern, Western and Mid-Western Regions.
The responsibility of the coup of 1966 could be traced to the doors of UPGA political thugs who turned the Western Region into a theatre of war and the inability of Tafawa Balewa government to ensure that the people of Western Region had a government of their choice through a fair and just election. Some observers believed, and rightly so, that the description of the 1966 coup as ‘Ibo Coup‘ was a misnomer.
The ‘five majors‘ involved in the coup were believed to have seized the opportunity of a broken political process to carry out their nasty personal animosities against their senior colleagues in the army. They committed murder and should have been charged accordingly after the mutiny had been crushed. BIAFRA AGAIN I was not pleasantly surprised when my reference to Biafra in my column last week drew undue re-action from the usual quarters.
My observation was that there was nothing glorious in the old Biafra (former Eastern Region) that could not be found abundantly in the present South-Eastern states which are better funded, more developed and arguably blessed work quality leadership. Some blind readers of my column turned to political abuses and odious references to Lagos and Ibadan. My reference to Lagos is the city where the old ‘Biafrans‘ live comfortably, peacefully and perhaps always dream of that ‘golden age‘
As I have mentioned several times in this column, the Nigerian civil war was a sad one because it was unnecessary but also costly – a fratricidal conflict. The outcome of the war with Nigerian victory was nothing special as it often happened in wars, one side would eventually emerge victorious.
The resolute defense put up by the Ibo would remain an abject lesson for any future aggression against people driven to the wall. Many Yoruba officers and soldiers lost their precious lives in the suicidal attempts to take Onitsha by sea and also along the Abagana Road in another attempt to capture Onitsha.
Onitsha was eventually captured and the war has ended more than 40 years ago, but the Yoruba tribe is being hounded by those who perhaps, were too young or were not born to understand fully the Biafran tragedy. It is true in history that Oyo military force was absolutely defeated by the Fulanis in the 1830s and Oyo-Ile, capital of Oyo Empire was captured, completely destroyed and totally deserted.
That incident ended the glorious Oyo Empire which lasted for more than six centuries – a sad historical event. It is also on record that the victorious Fulanis, encouraged by their victory over the Oyo forces, thought of subjecting the whole Yoruba race and dip their Quran into the Atlantic Ocean. The new capital, Oyo was created by Prince Afonja and Oyo military force was re-organized under Ibadan, a rising Oyo military power.
The heavy Fulani forces were soundly defeated and completely routed in Oshogbo in 1840 by Ibadan Army (not total Yoruba Army), with Ogbomoso forces detailed at the rear to cut supply to the Fulani forces and deal with the retreating losers.
The victory over the Fulani forces in 1840 saved the Yoruba country from foreign subjugation until the British conquest of Ijebu and Oyo. However, in the midst of confusion by ethnic threats on both sides, non-indigenes are brightening the economic scene of the South-West by commercial co-operation and Ibo investments are joyfully becoming decisive and profitable.
Incidents of mixed marriages have aided the course of social understanding and reduced mistrusts, envy and enmity. For the records, shortly before the civil war, I wrote an article in the Daily Times titled, “CAN WE AFFORD TO FALL APART”? After the war in 1970, I put in another one in the Daily Times, NOW THAT THE GUNS ARE SILENT.
The area called Mid-Western State (consisting of non-Yoruba people) was carved out of the Western Region – leaving the Eastern and Northern Regions (with their restless minorities) intact.
The ruling party in Western Region (Action Group) had split into two factions – one led by Chief Awolowo and the other led by Chief Akintola. After the expulsion of Chief Akintola from AG, he formed a new party, NNDP with a section of the NCNC (West) under Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, a Cambridge University trained lawyer and father of Femi Fani-Kayode.
The NNDP later merged with the ruling party (NPC) to form NNA. The NCNC and the remnants of NCN (West) and Awo‘s faction of Action Group merged to form UPGA under the leadership of Dr M. I. Okpara, the Eastern Region Premier. Chief Awolowo had been jailed for treasonable felony.
It was UPGA that precipitated the political crisis of 1964 by refusing to participate in 1964 elections on the ground of irregularities – absence of free, fair and just elections in Northern and Western Regions.
The party asked the President, Dr Azikiwe not to invite the parliamentary leader of the victorious party, NNA, to form a new government. However, the President agreed to ask the Prime Minister to form a broadly based national government (after he had been legally advised that under the 1963 Constitution, the President could not by himself form a new government).
The 6-point programme submitted by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola and Chief Justice of Eastern Region, Sir Louis Mbanefo which included the formation of a national government and dissolution of the Western House of Assembly (to allow for new elections) was adopted reluctantly by both UPGA and NNA.
Later, it turned out that the Peace of 1965 was not satisfactory to UPGA supporters. The Yoruba wing was not happy because Awolowo‘s release from prison was not part of the negotiation and the Akintola government could not be voted out in an election believed to have been heavily rigged. Western Region became really Wild, Wild West, with violence as an acceptable weapon of settling political differences.
Political violence became widespread and unbearable that something had to happen. The coup of 1966 (a year after the Peace of 1965) was popular in many parts of Eastern, Western and Mid-Western Regions.
The responsibility of the coup of 1966 could be traced to the doors of UPGA political thugs who turned the Western Region into a theatre of war and the inability of Tafawa Balewa government to ensure that the people of Western Region had a government of their choice through a fair and just election. Some observers believed, and rightly so, that the description of the 1966 coup as ‘Ibo Coup‘ was a misnomer.
The ‘five majors‘ involved in the coup were believed to have seized the opportunity of a broken political process to carry out their nasty personal animosities against their senior colleagues in the army. They committed murder and should have been charged accordingly after the mutiny had been crushed. BIAFRA AGAIN I was not pleasantly surprised when my reference to Biafra in my column last week drew undue re-action from the usual quarters.
My observation was that there was nothing glorious in the old Biafra (former Eastern Region) that could not be found abundantly in the present South-Eastern states which are better funded, more developed and arguably blessed work quality leadership. Some blind readers of my column turned to political abuses and odious references to Lagos and Ibadan. My reference to Lagos is the city where the old ‘Biafrans‘ live comfortably, peacefully and perhaps always dream of that ‘golden age‘
As I have mentioned several times in this column, the Nigerian civil war was a sad one because it was unnecessary but also costly – a fratricidal conflict. The outcome of the war with Nigerian victory was nothing special as it often happened in wars, one side would eventually emerge victorious.
The resolute defense put up by the Ibo would remain an abject lesson for any future aggression against people driven to the wall. Many Yoruba officers and soldiers lost their precious lives in the suicidal attempts to take Onitsha by sea and also along the Abagana Road in another attempt to capture Onitsha.
Onitsha was eventually captured and the war has ended more than 40 years ago, but the Yoruba tribe is being hounded by those who perhaps, were too young or were not born to understand fully the Biafran tragedy. It is true in history that Oyo military force was absolutely defeated by the Fulanis in the 1830s and Oyo-Ile, capital of Oyo Empire was captured, completely destroyed and totally deserted.
That incident ended the glorious Oyo Empire which lasted for more than six centuries – a sad historical event. It is also on record that the victorious Fulanis, encouraged by their victory over the Oyo forces, thought of subjecting the whole Yoruba race and dip their Quran into the Atlantic Ocean. The new capital, Oyo was created by Prince Afonja and Oyo military force was re-organized under Ibadan, a rising Oyo military power.
The heavy Fulani forces were soundly defeated and completely routed in Oshogbo in 1840 by Ibadan Army (not total Yoruba Army), with Ogbomoso forces detailed at the rear to cut supply to the Fulani forces and deal with the retreating losers.
The victory over the Fulani forces in 1840 saved the Yoruba country from foreign subjugation until the British conquest of Ijebu and Oyo. However, in the midst of confusion by ethnic threats on both sides, non-indigenes are brightening the economic scene of the South-West by commercial co-operation and Ibo investments are joyfully becoming decisive and profitable.
Incidents of mixed marriages have aided the course of social understanding and reduced mistrusts, envy and enmity. For the records, shortly before the civil war, I wrote an article in the Daily Times titled, “CAN WE AFFORD TO FALL APART”? After the war in 1970, I put in another one in the Daily Times, NOW THAT THE GUNS ARE SILENT.
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