Powerful History of Nigeria from 1960: First Second Third Republics:
–The Nigeria’s First Republic:
The First Military Rule in Nigeria:
–The Nigeria’s Second Republic:
-The Nigeria’s Third Republic:
This piece narrates a Powerful History of Nigeria from 1960 and significant facts about nigeria. After many years of struggle for self-government, the federation of Nigeria was formally granted independence on 1st October, 1960, under a constitution that provided for a parliamentary government and some level of self-government for the then three regions that existed.
Between 1959 and 1960, Jaja Wachuku was the first speaker of the Nigerian parliament who received the instrument of independence also known as Charter on the Independence Day from Princess Alexandra Kent who represented the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth 11. Queen Elizabeth 11 was the Monarch and Head of State of Nigeria, owing to the fact Nigeria was a member of the British Commonwealth of nations. Upon being granted self-government, the Nigerian government was given powers in fiscal policies, defence and others as part of what makes a country truly independent. That was a powerful history of Nigeria from 1960.
The parliamentary system of government in practice was that the Monarch was the Head of State, but the legislative powers were vested with the bicameral parliament, executive power in the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and judicial authority in the Supreme Court. With these developments berthed political parties which tended to reflect the various ethnic nationalities that existed then. For instance, the Nigerian People’s Congress (NPC) represented the conservative Muslims who were predominantly Hausas and Fulanis living in the Northern Region.
In 1959, elections were held when it became obvious that independence was underway; to prepare Nigeria for self-government. The NPC, after the elections, captured 134 seats in the 312-seats parliament. The second largest party, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which represented the Igbos and the Christian – dominated people of the Eastern region got 89 seats. The Action Group (AG) which catered for the interests of the Yorubas in the West was able to gather for itself, 73 seats.
The NCNC, being the leading political party, entered into an alliance with the NPC of the North. This alliance somehow gave way to speculations that the Sarduana of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello was going to come out as the Prime Minister, given his influence and position. But instead, he chose to remain the Premier of the Northern Region and brought Alhaji Abubakar Tafewa Belewa to become the Nigeria’s first Prime Minister.
The AG which was dominated by the Yorubas of the West became an opposition party under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. But Awolowo did not have a smooth sail for long as a faction broke out which was as a result of dissatisfaction too obvious in his leadership.
The faction was led by Ladoke Akintola who was earlier selected to be the Premier of the West. Akintola had also raised an argument that the Yorubas were losing out in business to the Igbos, apparently because the NCNC of the Igbos was in government, while the AG of the Yorubas was not and couldn’t have been because it was an opposition party.
Following these ill-feelings expressed by Akintola, the Prime Minister, Alhaji Belewa agreed to bring into government, the Akintola -led AG faction, but this intended action met with stiff opposition from the Awo camp who vowed never to allow such an alliance to be forged. They further went ahead and brought a replacement and this move resulted in a riot in the chambers of the parliament by the supporters of Akintola. The riot became so fierce that one of the members grabbed the Parliamentary Mace as a weapon and attacked the Speaker and other members. In the end, police were sent to quell the crisis with the use of tear gas. This was indeed, as at then, an alien phenomenon in Nigeria’s parliamentary history, with condemnations from across all the parts of the country.
The Nigeria’s First Republic:
In October, 1963, Nigeria became a Federal Republic and the former Governor General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the first President.
By this time, ethnicity had started permeating the fabrics of Nigerian politics. This ethnic issue fuelled the disparity in economy and development between the North and the South. The Action Group party was manoeuvred out of control of the Western Region by the federal government, and a new pro- government Yoruba party known as the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) took over. Before long, the leader of the AG, Awolowo was arrested and imprisoned.
In 1965, an election was conducted. But the results of the election were in contention as a result of wild scale malpractices which questioned the whole process. From that moment, the nation of Nigeria began brewing crisis. The conservative NDP went into an alliance with the NNDP, leaving the Igbo NCNC to grapple with the AG. In the heat of all the alliances and realignments, riot erupted and many lives were lost in swoop.
The First Military Rule in Nigeria:
January 15, 1966, a group of army officers mostly from the Southern part overthrew the NPC- NNDP- led government and went further to assassinate the Prime Minister and the Premiers of the North and West in a coup that was a novel development in the country.
Consequently, Major -General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi became the first military head of state. Some of those soldiers who were involved in the bloody coup were arrested. This coup sparked off ethnic rivalry between the North and the East. Besides the ill-feelings that accumulated in the hearts of many, Ironsi was unable to give the country an acceptable constitution. He also fuelled anger by enacting Decree No 34 which sought to unify the country. This Decree attracted national condemnation because it concerns were not in the overall interest of the country.
In July, 1966, another coup was planned and executed by mostly young soldiers from the North. General Ironsi was killed and General Yakubu Gowon became the next military head of state. Gowon immediately created 12 states from the existing regions that were in place, considering the fact that the nation was ripped for creation of states.
On 30th May, 1967, Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu, the governor of the Eastern Region who emerged the leader of the Igbo secessionist movement, declared the independence of the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra. The action of Ojukwu, as many viewed it, was anti- government and a step inimical to the young Nigeria that was being nurtured into adulthood.
Consequently, a civil war broke out between the government of General Gowon and that of Lt. Col. Ojukwu. The war, simply, was an outburst of suppression, injustice and sectional inconsideration.
The civil was lasted for three years and over 3.5 million people were massacred in what was described as an avoidable mass destruction through a civil war. Children and women were unfortunately the worst hit in the three years civil unrest. Starvation and deteriorating health of millions of both the Nigerian people and Biafrans was more than a reality.
At the end of the war, the Gowon government declared “no victor, no vanquished” in his speech in 1970. This declaration was to hurriedly heal all wounds and forge a common ground where the warring factions can come together and build the war-torn Nigeria.
On July 29, 1975, General Murtala Mohammed and some other officers in the military hatched a bloodless coup which ousted General Gowon. Mohammed and his group had cited insincerity on the part of Gowon to return the country to civil rule as he had promised. They had also accused Gowon of corruption that was then an unfamiliar lexicon to the military.
General Mohammed consequently became the Head of State, with a promise to return the country to a civil rule.
But sadly, this regime was short-lived, as he was assassinated on 13th February, 1976, in a coup plot.
Following this development, his Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Olusegun Abasanjo was sworn in as the new Head of State.
Nigeria’s Second Republic:
When General Obasanjo started his military rule, he was crystal clear that he would return Nigeria to a civil rule within a time possible. To demonstrate this commitment, a committee was constituted in 1977 to draft for the Nigerian people, a new constitution that would act as a legal document for the proposed civil rule.
In 1979, political parties were given the leeway to hit the ground for campaigns and subsequent elections. In view of this, five political parties fielded in candidates and eventually, Alhaji Shehu Shagari of National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was elected the President of Nigeria. All the five parties won seats in the National Assembly.
In 1983, Alhaji Shehu Shagari contested again after his four years term was over. The election was a landslide victory for him, as his NPN party swept 12 states in that election.
However, the election was marred by violence, wide scale rigging, missing of results and other electoral malpractices. These irregularities created a platform for legal battle, as many who were dissatisfied with the outcomes sought for redress. Also, the military had accused his government of corruption and bad governance and because of this, the nation Nigeria was gradually loosing trust from Nigerians and the outside community.
Not comfortable with the turn of events, on 31st December, 1983, Major General Muhammadu Buhari overthrew the democratically elected government of Shagari in a bloodless coup, citing corruption and irresponsible governance as some of the reasons that warranted the coup.
Buhari’s government could not live beyond three years, as there was another coup in August, 1985 by General Ibrahim Babangida which ousted the government of Buhari.
However, Babangida cited misrule, violation of human rights and the failure of the government to address the worsening economic downturn that was too obvious to deny.
The Nigeria’s Third Republic:
General Babangida was in power beginning from 1985, with his own promise of restoring civil rule to the country. This promise did not come to Nigerians by surprise because it was almost a military tradition to have a Head of State make promises, whether redeemably possible or not.
To bring his promise to pass, Babangida fixed 1990 as a year the country would be returned to civil rule, but he later extended it to 1993. Earlier in 1989, a constitution was completed and political activities returned uninvited. Two parties were formed: the National Republican Party (NRP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In 1990, some officers attempted to overthrow the government, but they failed. Babangida ordered for their arrest and tried them in the tribunal. They were found guilty and consequently, jailed by the government.
On 13 June, 1993, Presidential election was held between the two registered parties. This election was described as the freest and fairest exercise by both the local and international observers who were on ground to monitor the election.
M. K. O. Abiola from the Yoruba extraction was judged to have won landslide, giving the nation something to hope for; that Nigeria was beginning to evolve in political matters.
On 23 June, 1993, Babangida, through a highly manipulated lawsuit annulled the election to the consternation of millions of Nigerians who were preparing for a new civil rule underway. The annulment came like thunderbolt, as crisis erupted, living many dead for a cause not theirs.
Pressure mounted for Babangida to step down and hand-over power to civilian administration. Rather than handover power, he set up an Interim National Government headed by a business mogul, Ernest Shonekan. Shonekan was to rule until the elections which were scheduled in 1994 before vacating the seat.
But on 17th November, 1993, the Minister of Defence, General Sani Abacha forced Shonekan to resign. Not being able to resist the pressure, Shonekan left office and Abacha immediately assumed power, with a promise to put the country on the path of prosperity and ensure civil rule was in place without further delay.
