THE BRIEF POLITICAL HISTORY OF NIGERIA FROM THE COLONIAL ERA TILL DATE
INTRODUCTION
Today,I'll like to share a little history about Nigeria,a country located in West Africa and was once known as the giant of Africa. Nigeria's evolution as being a political entity began when the British came to the Niger-Benue area to rule economically,after slave trade was abolished. Lord lugard at that time amalgamated the the protectorates ( Northern and Southern) to become the present day Nigeria. January 1st, 2014, was a historic day as it made Nigeria a century old.
Nigeria through time have had leaders with good intentions whose path was to salvage the country,but were either ousted, killed or voted out and their aspirations terminated. However there were still some leaders who left a legacy of corruption, increased violence, intolerance, economic quagmire and chaos.
AMALGAMATION OF THE TWO PROTECTORATES.
During the Berlin conference of 1885, the British Royal Niger Company came to the Niger Basin, controlling all trading activities in the Niger Basin. Around that time, Sir Frederick Lord Lugard was High Commissioner and proclaimed the Northern Protectorate. After the Charter was withdrawn,Nigeria was directly under colonial administration and it was slit into three(3): The Lagos Colony, Southern Protectorates and Northern Protectorate.
The Port at Lagos became the center for trade and communications by rail, seas, and creek, and the administrative capital with full apparatus of Crown colony government. The Southern Protectorate formerly called "the Oil Rivers Protectorate" was later known as the Mid-Western and Eastern regions, and Sir Ralph Moor was made Governor with Calabar being the capital. Lord Lugard was made to rule the Northern Protectorate though he received resistance from the Fulani Emirates of the North. With the pressure, he resigned and was appointed Governor of Hong Kong(1908-1911) but was posted back to Nigeria in 1912 to be Governor of both the Northern and Southern Protectorate. So in 1914, the Northern and Southern Protectorates were joined together by Sir Lord Lugard, and for some reasons the amalgamation was given a life span of 100 years.
However,the name "Nigeria" wasn't given by Lord Lugard but gotten from an article written by Miss Flora Shaw in 1892. She created the name as a conglomeration of the three Protectorates. Lord Lugard, on tour as Governor met Miss Flora Shaw and married her.
SIR LORD LUGARD AND HIS WIFE FLORA SHAW
COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION OF NIGERIA FROM 1914 TILL INDEPENDENCE
Lord Lugard was the first governor-general of Nigeria and in his administration, he made a legislative council(Nigerian council), made of 24 official and 12 unofficial members consisting Europeans,and some Nigerian Chiefs. The body had no legislative powers with no control over finance.Also most Nigerian Traditional leaders couldn't speak English and couldn't participate in discussions and these made Lord Lugard frustrated about his creation.
When Lord Lugard left in 1919,Sir Hugh Clifford succeeded him.In his administration, elective procedures were Introduced and it was the first time political parties were formed. His legislative council was made of 46 members (27 unofficial and 19 officials). The elective principles was placed in the 1922 constitution and the first part was Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). Another party Nigerian Youth Movement, came on board and challenged the NNDP.
Later on until 1960, Nigeria was still under colonial administration as Sir Bernard Bourdillon succeeded Sir Clifford, Sir Authur Richard succeeded Sir Clifford, Sir John Stuart MacPherson succeeded Sir Authur Richard,Mr Oliver Lyttleton succeeded Sir John,and finally Mr Henry Willink in 1957 who introduced a "Minorities Commission" to inquire into the fears of the minorities and this commission suggested the Fundamental Human Rights be placed in the Independence constitution of 1960.
INDEPENDENCE CONSTITUTION OF 1960
On July 1960, an act was passed by the United Kingdom Parliament for the Independence of all Nigerians except British Cameroons and October 1st is remembered every year as a historic day for Nigerians. On October 1963, Nigeria became a republic. Nnamdi Azikiwe was made the Governor-General and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was Prime minister. There were experiences of election crisis with the military trying to come into power and on January 15, 1966, the first coup lead by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu occurred. Then Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi took over and ruled for just six months and then another coup and General Yakubu Gowon was made head of state( July 1966).
PICTURE OF GENERAL YAKUBU AND COLONEL ODUMEGWU OJUKWU(From left to right)
When General Yakubu was ruling, the easterners were unhappy with the coup going on as it was done mainly by the northerners, so the easterners led by the eastern ruler Lt Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, wanted to seperated from being Nigerians but rather addressed as "BIAFRA" but it wasn't accept. This lead to a civil war which claimed the lives of so many people mostly the biafrans. After the war in 1970, General Murtala Muhammad took over and Gen Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976. Sir Obasanjo Introduced "Operation Feed the Nation"(OFN). Alhaji Shehu Shagari took over in 1979 forming the Mass housing scheme and Green Revolution projects. However, Sir Shehu was overtaken by General Muhammadu Buhari who left government also as a result of another coup, bring General Ibrahim Babangida into power.
GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA
In August 1993,Chief Ernest Shonekan took over and was overthrown by General Sani Abacha on June that same year. Gen. Sani Abacha was a wicked n ruthless man who was a dictator an did whatever he liked or pleased. He died of an illness in 1998 and this made the whole Nigeria celebrate his death. Then General Abdulsalami Abubakar then took over.
GENERAL SANI ABACHA
On 29th May, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo came again, but this time as the First civilian president and ruled, Sir Alhaji U Ara Musa Yar'adua( in 2007) and Dr Good luck Ebele Jonathan in 2010. Then Sir Muhammad Buhari took over in 2015 and Sir Bola Ahmed Tinibu in 2023 till the present date. From the time of Chief Olusegun,the president put in place was first of all voted for during elections even though some elections had some corruptions here and there,it was for the good of all.
SIR BOLA AHMED TINUBU
Wow, going through all these you will discover the political history of Nigeria had a little slice of military rule and dictatorship, however, this is a brief history about how the political history of Nigeria began till this present date. Hope you found it interesting though?
REFERENCES
Nigerian Peoples and Cultures, 3rd Edition
Nigerian Peoples and Cultures by Humanities unit,UNN, copyright (2024)(ISBN: 978-978-56832-6-4).
Wikipedia Encyclopedia dictionary