Wednesday, April 29, 2015

RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Commendation and Questions

I will add that all who chose to refer to or report historical or other facts do so (including interpretations) correctly- without ethnic bias. That is what true intellectuals do. They continually and successfully desist from propelling personal opinion as historical or other fact, even when to do so might confer some ethnic advantage.

 

oa

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ugo Nwokeji
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 5:04 PM
To: usaafricadialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Commendation and Questions

 

Thanks a lot, Professor Falola. You spoke clearly and wisely. Facts and core human values are not and should not necessarily be ethnic. Let those who have ears hear. 

 

Ugo


G. Ugo Nwokeji

Director, Center for African Studies

Associate Professor of African American Studies
University of California, Berkeley
686 Barrows Hall #2572
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. (510) 542-8140
Fax (510) 642-0318

Twitter: @UgoNwokeji

 

On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 6:51 AM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Obi, Bode and Ayo:

 

I always intervene to sue for peace and to plead that we elevate the arguments and our minds.

 

Great arguments here, with minimal insulting words. Thus, I have to commend the politeness.

 

I am not sure I understand what is meant by an "Igbo Intellectual" unless the Igbo wrote books and essays that are put in some caves with a door that requires a code to enter. I am from Ibadan where my people were, for many years, pro-Zik and anti-Awo. So, you will get an Ilesa man or an Ibadan man writing like Obi. I have been to Nsukka many times, and I can tell you that I have met many anti-Zik Igbo who always told me "we love what Awo did for Yoruba people!" I drink my beer and let them amuse themselves as it is very difficult to draw me into such conversation. So let us be careful in linking ethnicity with intellectual production, even when we know that such a correlation does exist. If I criticize Balewa, am I a "Yoruba intellectual"? I have the right to criticize Balewa or any other political leader for that matter. Obi has the right to criticize Awolowo, and Bode has the right to criticize Takar. 

 

Questions for Obi, Bode, and Ayo:

 

1.    Is there anything wrong to have an hero? Fela Anikulapo Kuti is the only Nigerian hero of mine. Is this not my right as a person?

2.    Because Fela is my hero, should I abuse Osadebey and Sunny Ade, and insult Lagbaja?

3.    I was born a Christian but now a secularist. Does it enhance the credentials of Pastor Laolu Akande on this list, who sees heaven and the kingdom of God as his destination, to insult me because I am not a Christian?

4.    Bishop Kukah, my great friend, lives in Sokoto, and he is a member of this list. When I visited him in January, it was my Muslim friends who took me to his house. Should Muslims abuse Kukah because he is a priest and Catholic?

I am posing these questions because preeminent Nigerian scholars like you all are, on the one hand, contributing to intellectual projects but, on the other hand, reinforcing our deep divisions instead of healing us and uniting us. If Awolowo is your hero, it is your business; if Zik is your hero, it is your right. But it is not the right of an Awoist to abuse Zik, and it is not the right of a Zikist to abuse Awo. 

 

 

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

 

From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 8:22 AM
To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just

 

Bode:
You might recall, the powerful Emir Sanusi of Kano too was deposed and exiled by an NPC government of the North. The NPC's northern program was also modernization - but as for "radical change" - that's taking it too far. The question has been thrown here,  about how many northerners benefited from a Northern education program. The fact is every Northerner that went to school in the North had free education and generous scholarships. All we need to do is look at the range of Northerners that emerged in the national stage between 1954 and the postwar years, and you will begin to understand the extent of the northernization program in public education. As at 1959, Judith Safinat Attah was the first Northern Nigerian woman to attain a university degree. She went to school in Readings under a Northern Nigerian program on women's education. She returned as Education officer to the North managing and establishing Girls Secondary schools in Ilorin, Kano, Yola, and many cites where a new generation of Northern women were being educated. I point this out to cut through these rather unfounded assumptions, borne largely of misinformation, that the Awoist love very much, that no other regions were investing in education as did the Action Group government with its "Free education" program. Indeed, if you read Awolowo himself, he did say pointedly that his free education was necessary "in order to catch up with the East!" in much the same way as he also very clearly argued that the reason for progress in the East of his time, was because of the established "fidelity" between the East and its leaders. I'd like Awoists to read a lot of Awo. Bode, AG's political philosophy and its organogram was built on maintaining a traditional, conservative, power infrastructure. That was why, when Awo finally realized the limits of that program, and took the plunge with the so-called "young turks" in 1962 following their Jos Conference, intent  on reforming the party and expanding its mission, the Action Group swooned into a massive crisis . The ideological cracks widened the internal power divisions that emerged in the party circa 1959/60.
 
Ayo Turton: "Zikism" - the philosophical and ideological constructions derived from the political writings and organizing principles of Nnamdi Azikiwe - is the ideology that Azikiwe left behind. Zikism is rooted on the idea of the "new African" and of an African renaissance based on five clear ethical foundations. Azikiwe coherently theorized this in 1937 in his Renascent Africa, for years considered the most important book on African political philosophy in one generation. As Walinmu Julius Nyerere, himself a Zikist, said while giving the Nnamdi Azikiwe lectures at Lincoln, "until my generation read Renascent Africa we did not know of the Africa that exists..." I personally had the great pleasure in 1997 at a private dinner organized for him at the home of his late friend, the distinguished economist Pius Okigbo, on Sanusi Fafunwa street in Victoria Island to meet Nyerere; and in my snatch discussions with him on the subject of Zik, he said, and I remember this clearly: "Azikiwe's ideas charted the course, and we all followed... ." So, for those who question the legacy of Zikist philosophy, they should excavate it in the works and writings of those who were driven by Zikist thought: Nkrumah, Ako Adjei, even the old intellectual nationalists like Kobina Sekyi, whose meeting with Zik in the Gold Coast in 1934/5 with Akunna Wallace-Johnson, changed the course of political discourse and action in Ghana; and in Nigeria many more; and across Africa many more. 
 
There is only one truth which I am bound to concede here: Nigeria, as it is today, is the failure of the Zikist project and the triumph Awo's and Sarduana's ideas about nation. We can acknowledge this. As a political philosophy Zikism, as Zik himself clearly articulated it, is drawn from a hybrid of three methods: aspects of Fabianism, Garveyite Pan-Africanism, and Whitehead's pragmatism - drawn essentially from the influence of his teacher, Alain Locke, for whom he had been research assistant at Howard, and who himself had bee a student of James Whitehead's at Harvard.  So, what is the ideology of Zikism: it is based on the idealist philosophy of Zik, that the renewal and modernity of Africa constitutes a moral and historical imperative, based on a method of sublate engagement, and anchored on five ethical foundations: mental freedom, economic determinism, spiritual balance, etc. Azikiwe's organizational principle is based on the "Ekumeku" method: to engage an unequal power, you must learn the slipperiness of the boxer, the patience of the Roman General Maximus Pontifex, and the necessity of dynamic motion. To be fixed to a spot is to be subject to overwhelming force. As for the quip about moving from "Zik of Africa" to "Owelle of Onitsha" - Zik himself was clear: the clear source of universality is locality. Zikism is a version of an idealist humanism, that can today be viewed from two lenses: the idea that social or renascent movements can be overdetermined, and secondly, that Africa as an idea constitutes a permanent renaissance based on the eternal philosophy of a permanently "new Africa," using whenever necessary, the Ekumeku method. I hope I have answered your questions.
Obi Nwakanma

 


Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just
From: seguno2013@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 04:25:52 +0100
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Thanks Ayo for your response. I get disturbed when some of our Ibo intellectuals present hear says as historical facts to smear Pa Awolowo. A man who contributed so much to the unity of Nigeria. Any  form of invented history by anyone will not be a fact of history when its goals are  to distort historical facts that we know. 

I think it is false to say that there is "no ideological difference between NPC and AG," for instance, AG propagated free education for all while NPC rejected it. How many schoolgirls enrolled in schools in the North where NPC was a dominant political party? How many almojiris went to school in those days in the North? Today, you will not be surprised that a number of intellectuals, scholars, professionals from the defunct Western Region were able to be what they are now as a result of free education ideology and policy of the AG. 

I want everyone to know that I am a 'student' of interdisciplinary studies because it offers better knowledge and understanding of humanities. 
Prof. Segun Ogungbemi


On Apr 29, 2015, at 3:05 AM, Ayo Turton <ayoturton@gmail.com> wrote:

I cannot see anything in the rather rhetorical question of Mr. Ogungbemi that limits the understanding of who will qualify as an historian to the traditional definition of an historian.
His question could as well be asking if OA is an "historian" in the mould of Edmund Wilson or Paul Krugman. The operative part of his statement is for OA to stop saying or write what he doesn't know.
The truth is that no matter how many times a lie is told,  a lie told a million times will still not make it the truth. I will like to challenge OA as an intellectual to provide us with the link or the source of his information  where Shagari attested to Awo's double-dealing.
That is another gospel according to Igbo intellectuals just like the "masterpiece" tales by the moonlight of "carpet-crossing" in the Western Region, manufactured by Zik and Mbadiwe and perpetuated by the likes of Chinua Achebe. I hope you know that didn't happen as well.
I am prepared to supply you with the names of everyone that participated in that election and the party they represented.
The truth is that there is the Nigerian history and there is the Igbo-made version of Nigerian history.

Well if there is no ideological difference between NPC and AG, how come that Zik the different one was always the one to quickly jump into others bandwagon?

I  am still putting this challenge out there, what was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe political ideology?  Where did he stand as a politician?
Best,

Ayo Turton

On Apr 28, 2015 9:28 PM, "Ibrahim Abdullah" <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:

Interesting question. From Zik of Africa to the Owelle of Onitsha. This says it all about Zik. The history of post-colonial Nigeria would have been different If only he had stayed in the West to tough it out. But he choose to retreat to his Dar: to defend his 'home'  turf like Awo and Sarduna. And the result? The fractured nation-state that we now call Nigeria.

The singular legacy of the notorious trio is the nation-state that has refused to come to terms with meaningful citinzeship as the key marker of modernity.

 

----------------------

 

On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 7:53 PM, Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear Segun Ogungbemi:

In this era of interdisciplinary work and multi-disciplinary research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, the generic boundaries of the disciplines have almost nearly disappeared. Serious scholars doing cutting edge research no longer ask that question. It is like asking the entomologist, Edmund O. Wilson, if he is a historian, given his work in the biospheric and ecological history of the species, or the economist Paul Krugman, if he were a Political Scientist, Literary critic, or journalist. We no longer live in these silos. Permit me to suggest that your question to Ogugua is not only presumptuous and patronizing, it is frankly meaningless and myopic! What does it mean to be a historian? Is political or literary memoir a valid source for historical research? I'm just now reading Paul Anderson's finely edited collection of George Orwell's journalism, (Orwell in Tribune: 1943-7) from a compilation of Orwell's column, "As I Please" in the London Tribune. Is it literary criticism, political writing, or journalism? I do not wish to belabour the point.

 

Perhaps, it would have been more profitable to this forum if you had essayed a more concrete rebuttal to challenge the facts as Ogugua had presented them. Many of the claims he makes are actually in the public records. Proceedings of the Coker commission are public record. Interviews, and statements by active political agents of that era of history are valid historical testimony, and certainly, Alhaji Shehu Shagari testifies to the evidence that Ogugua calls up. Unless you can claim some deeper insider knowledge in the operations of any of the parties in that period, your knowledge of such events, however old and present you were in those times, can only be contingent on the kind of fragmented and mediated knowledge made generally available to the public. Not everyone present at the unfolding of the events of history know its true contours. The true value of history is that it is preserved in documents - diaries, memoirs, court records, minutes of meetings, newspaper interviews and reports, and sometimes first person oral accounts of close participants of events. If you have those, and you have alternative information and perspective that might challenge the primary argument, share it, rather than making opaque quips that do not add or shed new light to the discussion.

 

The more significant fact for me however is how Nigerians have generally not taken  a closer, more critical look at the political culture of the first republic. W have relied mostly on hear-say and myth. The hard fact is that there was no fundamental ideological differences between the Action Group and the Northern People's Congress. They had the same programmatic vision, to the point of echoing each other in places. They each catered to the preservation of the same traditional, conservative political institutions of the monarchs of the west and the feudal oligarchies of the North. AG was as oligarchic as the NPC in spite of all the attempts at later-day revisionism. All we need to do is examine them closely using historical data and analysis. So, to hyperventilate about why the NCNC, founded on a broad coalition of trade and town unions, the Labour movement, Literary and Debating societies, socialist organizations, and the like, made the pragmatic choice to work with one over the other amounts in some ways to navel-gazing, i'm afraid. The north was threatening to pull out of the federation in 1954/55 and in 1959/60; Azikiwe and his party's choice was principally to preserve the nation as an independent commonwealth by reassuring the leaders of the north. Zik, in fact, sublimated his own personal ambitions for the sake of that goal. This is historical fact.

Obi Nwakanma

 


Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just
From: seguno2013@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:06:01 +0100
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

 

oa,

Are you an historian? If you are, which area of history is yours? And if you are not, please don't say or write what you don't know. There are still many of us who were living witnesses of the political and historical events of the defunct Western Region and other parts of the country before and after  independence. 

This forum is meant for the dissemination of intellectual and scholarly discourse with a view to contributing to Pan-African dialogue. Let us focus on intellectual facts and not self-glorification of any political idols. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi


On Apr 27, 2015, at 11:43 PM, "Anunoby, Ogugua" <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

 
After the hung 1959 federal elections, Awolowo did propose to Azikiwe that their parties come together and form the government at the center with Azikiwe as the prime minister. What is true too is that although Awolowo public claimed that he would not serve in a feudalist government in partnership with Ahmadu Bello's party, he (Awolowo) was contemporaneously, secretly consulting with Ahmadu Bello to form such a coalition government at the center. Shehu Shagari said he was. Shagari was Ahmadu Bello's confidant, and emissary to Azikiwe after the 1959 elections. He informed Azikiwe that Awolowo was two-faced and should not be trusted by either Ahmadu Bello or Azikiwe. Awolowo's two-timing has been claimed to be the proximate cause of Azikiwe's swing away from Awolowo and toward Ahmadu Bello.
 
Akintola and Awolowo's disagreement was first economic before it was political. Akintola wanted some of the propitious economic/business privileges (spoils) of the office of premier of Western Nigeria that Awolowo continued to enjoy even after he, Awolowo, was no longer premier and had relocated from Ibadan to Lagos. Awolowo refused to give them up. Akintola would not take "no" for an answer. Hell broke loose from then on and an economic/business disagreement over the spoils of the office of the premier of Western Nigeria became political as it was bound to become if it was not amicably and promptly resolved. The disagreements led to what became known as the Western Crises which was one of the reasons for the January 1966 military coup.
 
Awolowo did become the leader of opposition at the center- Lagos. He was determined to become prime minister evenwithout an election mandate. He was suspected of, investigated, and accused of planning to overthrow the federal governmentby force. He was arrested, charged to court, and prosecuted fairlyunder the law. He had ample opportunity to defend himself and he didrobustly. One of his defense lawyers was Sir Dingle Foot- a highly competent, senior British lawyer (Queen's Counsel). Awolowo along with some of his co-conspirators, was convicted after their treasonable felony trial by the very well-respected Supreme Court Justice George Sowemimo (an Abeokuta man). Awolowo was sentenced to ten years in prison. Awolowo was serving his sentence in Calabar prison until his release by Emeka Ojukwu and not Yakubu Gowon as some revisionists of history have claimed.
 
A majority if not all Nigerians should share Ugo's sentiments when he says " We (Nigerians)need to aim higher and to do so with belief and determination!" This will be less likely to happen if history continues to be intentionally misreported and misrepresented to present and future generations, and always misunderstood.
Mistakes were made in the past. It is time the all effort must be to not repeat the same or similar mistakes are not repeated. There is enough national, state, and other communal experience already to inform the enlightened construction of an achieving country in which all citizens who are prepared to work hard, have faith and true love of country would have peaceful enjoyment of the duties, right and privileges of equal citizenship.  
 
oa
 
 

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Salimonu Kadiri
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2015 5:08 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just

 

"..... and my thinking is that his (Azikiwe's vision for distributing NCNC'S appointments would have been inclusive and reflected the then diversity of NCNC as well,"- Ugo Nwokeji. 
 
Historically, we all know that there was no exclusive NCNC/NPC government in 1955 but a national government. Therefore, Ugo Nwokeji thinking about Azikiwe's vision for distributing NCNC'S appointments in an inclusive way to reflect the then diversity of the NCNC could not be put to test. Nevertheless, after the 1959 federal elections the results showed that NPC, NCNC AG and their respective allies won 148, 89 and 75 seats respectively in the 312 members of Federal House of Assembly. Since, none of the political parties had absolute majority to form a government, Chief Obafemi Awolowo expressed the view to serve in a national government led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. The AG and NCNC had 168 members as against NPC's 148 in the Parliament. Having been called upon by the Governor General, Sir James Robertson, to form a government, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa realizing the Parliamentary situation expressed his desire to form a National Goent. Having been called upon by the Governor General, Sir James Robertson, to form a government, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa realizing the Parliamentary situation expressed his desire to form a National Government comprising of NPC, NCNC, and AG. The AG leader, Obafemi Awolowo, said that he could not serve in a feudalist led government. Then, on Sunday, 20 December 1959, and in spite of opposition from its ally in the North, NEPU, Azikiwe's NCNC announced a coalition government agreement with the NPC in which Balewa was to become Prime Minister of the federation. The NCNC even agreed to the demand of NPC that no member of the NEPU should be appointed to ministerial post or any other government institutions. Awolowo decided to be the leader of opposition in the Federal Parliament. Azikiwe coldly calculated that the highly educated NCNC would dominate those he had named feudal autocrats, non-English speaking ciphers and illiterate dummies of the NPC even if the leader of the government was a feudalists. The federal coalition government between NPC and NCNC of 1959 onwards gave Azikiwe's NCNC the opportunity to put to test his vision of inclusively distributing federal appointments to reflect the diversity of the NCNC, but it did not happen. The political disagreement between Awolowo and his deputy Samuel Akintola arose out of the latter concern that because Awolowo refused to join the federal government, the NCNC had excised Yoruba indigenes out of federal government's appointments. The rest is history!!
 
Ugo Nwokeji wrote, "...the aim of Zik and people who shared his mind-set to forestall Nazism in this country, no matter whether it rears its ugly head in form of intolerance, bigotry, or terrorism, has failed."
 
Ugo Nwokeji with his proclamation of Zik's anti-Nazism philosophy reminds one of George Orwell's 1946, Politics and the English Language wherein he stated, "Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give appearance of solidity to pure wind." There has never been National Socialists, derived from the German Nationalsozialistische, in Nigeria. What we have had and still have are tribalists who came with the idea of master tribe destined by God to dominate other tribes in Nigeria politically and economically. It is ironical that he who introduced tribalism into the body politics of Nigeria should be talking of Nazism (National Socialism) rearing its head into Nigeria. When Nnamdi Azikiwe returned to Nigeria in 1937, The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) had been in existence since 1922 with Herbert Macaulay  as the general Secretary and Joseph Egerton Shyngle as the President. The NNDP had won all elections to the Legislative Council in Lagos from 1923 to 1938 when it was defeated by the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM). In fact NYM was an off-shoot of Lagos Youth Movement that was founded in 1933 by James Churchill Vaughan, Ernest Sissei Ikoli and Samuel Adesanya as leaders. When the NYM won all the three seats for Lagos to the Legislative Council in 1938, Azikiwe decided to join NYM. Besides Ikoli and Adesanya, Azikiwe stated that among the leaders of NYM at that time were, Dr Akiola Maja, H. S. A. Thomas, Jubril Martin and Dr Kofoworola Abayomi. "Prominent among its backbenchers were Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief S.L. Akintola, J.A. Tuyo, Hamzat A.Subair, F. Ogugua-Arah, S.O. Shonibare and L. Duro Emmanuel,"  Zik wrote in his Selected Speeches. Azikiwe desired leadership role for himself which was very difficult to achieve with the calibre of those in the leadership of NYM. Therefore, when a bye-election nomination over who should contest the election to the Legislative Council to replace Dr Abayomi who was on specialist study in UK turned sourer within the NYM, Azikiwe seized the opportunity to join other forces to scuttle the NYM. By 1943, NYM was in coma and NNDP won all the three seats for Lagos to the Legislative Council. That same year, Nnamdi Azikiwe founded the first tribal Union in Nigeria called *IBO FEDERAL UNION* and installed himself as the President. The name was later changed to *IBO STATE UNION.* He was immediately imitated by Eyo Ita who also founded *IBIBIO STATE UNION.* Then in August 26, 1944, Azikiwe founded NCNC and named himself the Secretary and Herbert Macaulay the President. Herbert Macaulay was 80 years old in 1944 and remained the Secretary of NNDP that was still winning elections. He had no need for a new party but the foxy Nnamdi Azikiwe targeted him for the purpose of riding on Macaulay's popularity to power. When Herbert Macaulay died on May 7, 1946, Nnamdi Azikiwe became the President of both NNDP and NCNC. Thus at the Legislative Council Elections of December 1946, Nnamdi Azikiwe, H.P. Adebola, T.O.S. Benson, Dr Ibiyinka Olorunmbe and Adeleke Adedoyin contested and won on the platform of NNDP. After the 1951 elections Azikiwe buried the NNDP until 1964 when Akintola outfoxed the foxy Azikiwe by reincarnating NNDP. It is worth remembering that five years after the Ibo Federal Union was founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa was formed in Lagos by Adeyemo Alakija, Dr Akinola Maja, Dr Kofo Abayomi, Chief Bode Thomas, Chief H. Oladipo Davies, Dr Akanni Doherty and others. In the North, Dr Dikko and others founded Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa translated to Northern People's Congress. It is s by Adeyemo Alakija, Dr Akinola Maja, Dr Kofo Abayomi, Chief Bode Thomas, Chief H. Oladipo Davies, Dr Akanni Doherty and others. In the North, Dr Dikko and others founded Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa translated to Northern People's Congress. It is also noteworthy that while members of IBO STATE UNION were automatically affiliated to NCNC, members of EGBE OMO ODUDUA could belong to other parties. Thus, Oladipo Davies was an active member of NCNC and at the same time member of Egbe Omo Oduduwa. If there had been no IGBO STATE UNION, there would have been no tribalism in Nigeria. Very soon there will be OBA OF YORUBA IN ONITSHA, ABA, OWERRI, and ENUGU in response to EZE NDI IGBOS OF LAGOS.

 


From: ugo@berkeley.edu
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 16:12:24 -0700
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Thanks, Obi, for sending this edifying speech. It comes across to me as fair, principled, democratic and inclusive, and the method of sharing power he outlined seems to have been in consonance with "Royal Instructions to ... the Governor-General". Inclusiveness and fairness should not rankle any Nigerian, but if puzzles me that some people just cannot accept that. For context, NCNC's 63 came from ALL over southern Nigeria (in some places more than others, of course, and a few from the Middle Belt), and my thinking is that his vision for distributing NCNC's appointments would have been inclusive and reflected the then diversity of NCNC as well. 

 

These are important principles to strive for in a country like ours -- in fact, in any nation -- in spite and because of human imperfections that can dilute their realization. But is very sad that, instead of getting better toward the realization of these principles, instead of us being better than Zik was way back in January 1955 (!), some people still seek division, oppression and rabid hatred for people from other ethnic groups. This is how -- very unfortunately -- the aim of Zik and people who shared his mindset to forestall "any form of Nazism in this country, no matter whether it rears its ugly head in form of intolerance, bigotry, or terrorism" has failed. We are going backward. It is sad that in spite of all the education and exposure Nigerians today (compared to January 1955), the country has made little progress and even has regressed on a number of critical fronts.

 

We need to aim higher and to do so with belief and determination!

 

Ugo

 

 


G. Ugo Nwokeji

Director, Center for African Studies

Associate Professor of African American Studies
University of California, Berkeley
686 Barrows Hall #2572
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. (510) 542-8140
Fax (510) 642-0318

Twitter: @UgoNwokeji

 

On Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:

Unprincipled politics, political harlotry and chop-chop politics in Nigeria began in 1955. Hear Nnamdi Azikiwe, "It is true that this constitutional pattern will present a situation in which the NCNC will have a majority in the executive and the Northern Peoples' Congress (NPC) will dominate the legislature. ..."I believe that the NCNC and the Northern Peoples' Congress can work a government in which the former (NCNC) dominates the executive and the later (NPC) controls the legislature..(see p.127-130, ZIK - Selected Speeches of Dr NNAMDI AZIKIWE from where Rex Marinus has culled his article)." Why was Azikiwe interested in having the NCNC dominate the executive i.e. Ministerial posts and ceding the domination of the legislature to the NPC? In his address as the President of Ibo State Union at Enugu on December 15, 1950, Nnamdi Azikiwe said, "In the North, the feudal autocrats and their minions have spared no time in making it easier for non-English speaking ciphers and illiterate dummies to flood the Northern House of Assembly. With due deference, may I say that these marionettes are entitled to about fifty per cent of the seats in the central legislature (p. 113, ZIK - Selected Speeches of Dr NNAMDI AZIKIWE)." By January 8, 1955 Azikiwe realized that non-English speaking ciphers and illiterate dummies from the North that dominated the central legislature could be exploited to rubber stamp the ministerial agenda of NCNC dominated executive and that was why he sought for coalition government with the NPC. And the NCNC ideology was nothing but petty bourgeoisie chop-chop at the expense of the masses. 
 


From: rexmarinus@hotmail.com
To: umuahians@googlegroups.com; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.comigboworldforum@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; igboevents@yahoogroups.com; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - From Nnamdi Azikiwe: " a lamp to guide our feet..." & history that vindicates the just
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 19:47:07 +0000

 

  "As the hierarchy of our great party, the National Executive committee meets today to tackle some of the burning political problems which confront our country. The composition of the Federal House of Representatives has been determined. The personnel of the council of ministers is yet to be decided. You have a rare privilege in deciding who should be ministers of state to represent the Eastern and Western regions of the federation of Nigeria. I hope you will discharge this sacred duty patriotically and realistically.
The results of the Federal elections have placed the parties roughly as follows: Northern Peoples Congress, 84, NCNC 63, Action Group 20, KNC 6, UNIP 5, Idoma States Union, 2 Middle Belt Peoples Party, 2, Igbirra Tribal Union 1, Nigerian Commoners Liberal Party, 1. This means that no one political party has established a clear majority over the other parties.  According to the Royal Instructions to His Excellency, the Governor-General, if such a situation arises then he shall consult with leaders of the majority political parties in each region in order to appoint the ten ministers, of whom the NCNC will be entitled to six.
It is true that this constitutional pattern will present a situation in which the NCNC will have a majority in the executive and the Northern Peoples Congress will dominate the parliament. The question arises: can the NCNC and the Northern Peoples Congress operate a government in which either party is in a position to paralyze action? If so, can such a government be stable enough to win the confidence of  the peoples of Nigeria and the outside world? Otherwise, must Nigeria be subjected to another spate of conferences for the revision of its constitution?
 
I believe the NCNC and the Northern Peoples Congress can work a government by agreement in which the former dominates the executive and the latter controls the legislature, provided that both parties intend to give the new constitution a fair trial. I have two reasons for subscribing to this view. In the first place, the leaders of the two parties have publicly expressed the desire to give the new constitution a proper chance of survival.  The resent hiatus is an opportunity for both parties to demonstrate good faith. In the second place, the present constitutional situation is not unique in the political history of mankind. I want you to realize that in the United States today, the Republican Party controls the cabinet, and the Democratic Party dominates the Houses of Congress. The question of whether such a hybrid government can be stable has been answered in the United States, whose constitution, by the way, is partially our model, and where the Democratic and Republican parties have bridged the gulf of their differences by establishing an accord based on bi-partisanship. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a lamp to guide our feet towards the building of goodwill and understanding in Nigeria, in spite of our political differences.
 
I will admit that there is an ideological chasm between the NCNC and the Northern Peoples Congress, but I will submit that, in the realm of practical politics, such a chasm can be bridged by a span of mutual respect for each other, based on a bi-partisan policy of government by mutual accord. Therefore, the fact that the NCNC is in a position to dominate the Council of Ministers, and the Northern Peoples Congress is poised to control the House of Representatives does not preclude the possibility of a bi-partisan policy which should enable each of the cooperating political parties to co-exist and exert  salutary influence on policy, be it at the executive or legislative level.
 
Having dispelled the mist from the atmosphere, we can now see clearly enough to enable us to se who will be our standard bearers in the Council of Ministers appointed from the Eastern region and from the Western region. As soon as this has been done, we shall charge our ministers with the responsibility of maintaining cordial relations with their colleagues in the Council of Ministers. They should be warned that, whilst they would not expected to compromise on fundamental issues on which the party feels strongly, they should not hesitate to consult the party hierarchy for guidance and direction so as to avoid unnecessary embarrassment. The same goes to those of you who are members of the House of Reresentatives.
The NCNC believs that there is room in this country for different shades of political opinion. Unlike a certain other political party, we shall not seek to destroy our identity; rather we will gladly cooperate with any political party which is honest in it intentions, sincere in its outlook, and genuine in its programme. But the NCNC will not encourage any form of Nazism in this country, no matter whether it rears its ugly head in form of intolerance, bigotry, or terrorism."
·
         Nnamdi Azikiwe addressing the joint meeting of the NCNC Federal Parliamentary parliamentary caucus and the National Executive Committee, Jan. 8, 1955 in Lagos. <


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

 


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
ups.com">usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
/>


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment

 
Vida de bombeiro Recipes Informatica Humor Jokes Mensagens Curiosity Saude Video Games Car Blog Animals Diario das Mensagens Eletronica Rei Jesus News Noticias da TV Artesanato Esportes Noticias Atuais Games Pets Career Religion Recreation Business Education Autos Academics Style Television Programming Motosport Humor News The Games Home Downs World News Internet Car Design Entertaimment Celebrities 1001 Games Doctor Pets Net Downs World Enter Jesus Variedade Mensagensr Android Rub Letras Dialogue cosmetics Genexus Car net Só Humor Curiosity Gifs Medical Female American Health Madeira Designer PPS Divertidas Estate Travel Estate Writing Computer Matilde Ocultos Matilde futebolcomnoticias girassol lettheworldturn topdigitalnet Bem amado enjohnny produceideas foodasticos cronicasdoimaginario downloadsdegraca compactandoletras newcuriosidades blogdoarmario arrozinhoii sonasol halfbakedtaters make-it-plain amatha