Corrected version:
Precisely! In fact I am always correcting my Southern Nigerian brethren's
misperception that the British-Northern Nigerian love affair was indeed a
love affair instead of a manifestation of British real politik, which is
what it was. The British did not care about any African groups as much as
they cared about preserving their influence and ability to control from
afar. Any group or individuals deemed amenable to this objective became
their favorite. It was thus a strategic British courtship, not a preference
for Muslims or Hausa or an inmate hatred for "educated" Africans as is
widely believed in Southern Nigeria.
In some other African British colonies like the Gold Coast and Tanganyika,
where the dominant nationalist personality was so popular that the British
could not discredit or marginalized them, and where the British didn't have
the regional/ethnic/religious tendencies they could play off against one
another, they worked to moderate the radicalism of people like Nkrumah and
Nyerere and to negotiate an independence deal they thought they could live
with.
And yes, perhaps more Northern Nigerian aristocrats were disciplined by the
British than Southern Nigerian ones. It was all about protecting and
advancing British interests, and the professed affection for northern
politico-religious traditions was a mere justification, although the justification was
very elaborate.
Sent from my iPad
My thought on this issue
As noted already, this script or anecdote is not new. Many of us have
expressed our concerns on this matter in our writings and at different
forums and conferences. In fact, I shall allude to this question at a
conference to be held in Budapest, Hungary this spring.
Recently, I expressed my view on this issue thus: "Our leaders who
were carefully schooled and socialized in the governance template of
the colonial overseers found it—and still find it—difficult to peel
off the authoritarian character imbibed during colonial rule. Put
bluntly, the hegemonic powers governed autocratically but "imposed" a
liberal democratic genre on Africa; it was an impossible mission, many
argued, for Africa's new leaders who mimicked their colonial
administrative ancestors with panache to change."
The question, however, is: How do scholars—particularly
Africanists—deconstruct this political attitude (of rigging
elections—a subject in our forthcoming volume—for example)?
Fortunately, some of us on this forum and elsewhere have been
producing modalities for doing so in our works. But, we have a long
way to go partially because some of our current leaders remain
inflexible to change. Accordingly, we should roll up our sleeves and
go to work for substantial improvement in order to make our future
generations proud of us!
Ike Udogu
On 1/3/16, Moses Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:Malami,Precisely! In fact I am always correcting my Southern Nigerian brethren'smisperception that the British-Northern Nigerian love affair was indeed alove affair instead of a manifestation of British real politik, which iswhat it was. The British did not care about any African groups as much asthey cared about preserving their influence and ability to control fromafar. Any group or individuals deemed amenable to this objective becametheir favorite. It was thus a strategic British courtship, not a preferencefor Muslims or Hausa or an inmate hatred for "educated" Africans as iswidely believed in Southern Nigeria.In some other African British colonies like the Gold Coast and Tanganyika,where the dominant nationalist personality was so popular that the Britishcould not discredit or marginalized them, and where the British didn't havethe regional/ethnic/religious tendencies they could play off against oneanother, they worked to moderate the radicalism of People like Nkrumah andNyerere and to negotiate an independence deal they thought they could livewith.And yes, perhaps more Northern Nigerian aristocrats were disciplined by theBritish than Southern Nigerian ones. It was all about protecting andadvancing British interests, and the professed affection for northernpolitico-religious traditions were mere justifications, although they werevery elaborate.Sent from my iPadOn Jan 3, 2016, at 9:13 AM, 'Malami Buba' via USA Africa Dialogue Series<usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:The statement that "it was well established and well documented that theBritish not only favored the North but worked to empower the conservativepoliticians of the NPC to take over at independence", is in line withbasic British 'fudge' instinct: If they must succumb, then the weakestlink is strongly preferred. But do not be fooled by this love affair; thesame fate visited any Northern aristocrat who tried to rock the boatduring this decolonisation period. In other words, it was very much aBritish script on offer.MalamiProf Malami BubaDepartment of English Language & Linguistics,Sokoto State University, SokotoPMB 2134, Birnin Kebbi Road, SokotoNIGERIAOn 3 Jan 2016, at 15:33, Moses Ochonu wrote:It is not a scam. It has been circulating for almost a decade. It is alargely true account, a product of neocolonial guilt and soul searchingby a colonial actor. The British did not hide their desire to seenortherners take over the leadership of post-independence Nigeria andworked towards it. Historians who have read colonial correspondence,diaries of colonial officials, and the many published and unpublishedmemoirs of former colonial officials will testify to this bias. It isthus not only plausible that they manipulated the census to give anelectoral advantage to to the North, what Smith is saying is entirelyconsistent with the cardinal objective of British decolonization inNigeria: to install a conservative postcolonial government they couldtrust not to move away from the commonwealth and towards a socialist orpan-African agenda of total decolonization. As a result, they loved andcultivated ties with the aristocrats/politicians of the NorthernPeople's Congress (NPC), a conservative political party of Northernaristocrats and their supporters.The British (and the Americans) detested the NCNC and the AG, the twomain southern political parties, whose leaders, Azikiwe and Awo, wereconsidered too radical and too anti-colonial for the kind ofpostcolonial government the British were trying to install upon their"departure." To be sure, the British had always had a soft spot for theconservative and gradualist disposition of the northern emirates anddisdain for the Western educated intelligentsia of the South. Thisattitude started from the very beginning of unified colonial Nigeria in1914, even before. If you read Philip Zachernuck's book you will seethis tension between the Southern intelligentsia and colonialauthorities. Matters came to a head during the amalgamation proposals,when the Southern Western educated elites vehemently attacked theproposals, perhaps Nigeria's first coordinated anticolonial campaign. Bythe way, I have published on some of these themes, especially theBritish fondness for the dominant political tendency in the North,especially the Muslim emirates.Finally, there is nothing unusual about the content of this "confession."Electoral manipulation by colonial authorities were routine colonialbusiness. In fact the French were more brazen in this pursuit. A ColumbiaUniversity graduate student is writing her entire dissertation on thetopic of electoral manipulation and election rigging in colonial FrenchWest Africa. She gave a brilliantly revealing presentation at aconference at attended in Columbia last year. The popular, three-partal-jazeera documentary "The French-African Connection" lay bare suchmanipulations in several colonies--Cameroon, Gabon, etc, with testimoniesand interview footage of former colonial officials and intelligenceoperatives who participated in or coordinated the rigging confessing totheir deeds.A small personal anecdote: at another conference last year, I made aprefatory remark during my presentation, saying basically that there wasa certain affinity between the aristocrats of the North and Britishcolonial officialdom, and that the British seemed to be drawn to theNorthern aristocrats' political disposition and their religio-politicaltradition. Professor Murray Last, author of the most authoritative bookon the Sokoto Caliphate, who was at the same conference, promptlyinterjected to say that there was no need for me to be tentative, sinceit was well established and well documented that the British not onlyfavored the North but worked to empower the conservative politicians ofthe NPC to take over at independence.Sent from my iPadOn Jan 2, 2016, at 10:30 PM, kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:hi ademolain my opinion it reads like a scam.kenOn 1/2/16 8:09 PM, Ademola Dasylva wrote:I saw this piece on WhatsApp and USAAFRICADIALOGUE, and felt it isworth drawing attention to; that is, provided the claimed source isgenuine. One cannot be too sure nowadays:BRITON CONFESSES TO FRAUDULENT CENSUS IN NIGERIAThe man Harold Smith is not new in Nigerian history. He is one of thearchitects of colonial foundation that midwife Nigerian independence in1960. His response was "I am in my 80s now; I have agreed but in thepast' they' did not want me to say anything, but now I don't want to goto my grave without telling the truth about the atrocities perpetratedin Africa by the colonialists. Brothers and sisters; on Ben TV lastThursday, Harold Smith was on a program to reveal what went behind thescene before the independence. The Oxford University graduate had thisto say about his role in Nigeria pre and after independence era.'Our agenda was to completely exploit Africa . Nigeria was my dutypost. When we assessed Nigeria, this was what we found in the southernregion; strength, intelligence, determination to succeed, wellestablished history, complex but focused life style, great hope andaspirations… the East is good in business and technology, the west isgood in administration and commerce, law and medicine, but it was apity we planned our agenda to give power "at all cost" to thenortherner. They seemed to be submissive and silly of a kind. Ourmission was accomplished by destroying the opposition at all fronts.The west led in the fight for the independence, and was punished forasking for freedom. They will not rule Nigeria !Harold Smith confessed that the Census results were announced beforethey were counted. Despite seeing vast land with no human but cattle inthe north, we still gave the north 55 million instead of 32 Million.This was to be used to maintain their majority votes and future powerbid. He stated that the West without Lagos was the most populous inNigeria at that time but we ignored that. The north was seriouslyencouraged to go into the military. According to him, they believe thatthe south may attend western education, but future leaders will alwayscome from military background. Their traditional rulers were to be madeinfluential and super human. The northerners were given acceleratedpromotions both in the military and civil service to justify theirsuperiority over the south. Everything was to work against the south.We truncated their good plan for their future. "I was very sorry forthe A.G; it was a great party too much for African standard. We plannedto destroy Awolowo and Azikiwe well, the west and the east and sowed aseed of discord among them". We tricked Azikiwe into accepting to bepresident having known that Balewa will be the main man with power.Awolowo has to go to jail to cripple his genius plans for a greaterNigeria . However, Harold Smith justified the British agenda ofcolonialism in Nigeria , which he believed was originally to help buildAfrica after the ruins of slave trade, but lamented that the Britishonly looked after themselves and not after Nigerian interest. TheBritish really let Nigeria down. When I see Nigerian been accused offraud and from what I saw on the streets of Lagos ; the British wereworst fraudsters. Looking at the northern leaders now he said, "If theyhave any agenda in Nigeria at all, sadly it is only for the north, andnothing for Nigeria . He stated that the British look after the Britishpeople and this is so all over the world. He said the time has come nowto see people of intelligent minds with an open and inclusive agendafor all Nigerians in power…people who will really look after Nigerianslarge population…but "I still curiously and sorrowfully see now thatthe British has not let go of Nigeria…her wealth,. her potentials, herfuture. He opined that the Caucasian people now assert themselves asthe keeper of the "New Age" keys. He therefore said that it is onlylogical for Europeans to maintain their position of power, scientificsuperiority, economic exploitation, they must continue to perpetuatetheir lies and falsehoods and this is the most unkindest cut of all inrelation to Nigeria situation!According to him, Nigeria , a great nation was crippled not because ofmilitary juntas or corrupt leaders alone but by the British andAmerican fear of Nigeria great future. He confessed, "The fear of theplace that will be our 'dumping ground' really occupied our minds".Some of the things he said were not new to Nigerians or to the wholeworld but hearing it from the horse's mouth is quite revealing andestablished more reality zones. He finally submitted that the colonialmasters have caused havoc while they were in Africa , and planted timedbombs when they finally left. What we see since independence, theadministration of new internal colonial masters by fellow Nigeriansholding sway in power is doing more damage to Nigeria . Instead ofdetonating the time bombs planted by the British, the north is plantingmines. He added that 'It was my duty to carry out all of the above andI was loyal to my country. Nigerians should try to be loyal to theircountry leaders and followers alike. Love your country. You have gotthe potentials to be great again and the whole world knows this'.I am sorry for the above evil done to Nigeria . I c[truncated byWhatsApp]Ademola O. DasylvaSent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.--Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at AustinTo post to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.comTo subscribe to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.comCurrent archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogueEarly archives athttp://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html---You received this message because you are subscribed to the GoogleGroups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, sendan email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.--kenneth w. harrowprofessor of englishmichigan state universitydepartment of english619 red cedar roadroom C-614 wells halleast lansing, mi 48824ph. 517 803 8839harrow@msu.edu--Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at AustinTo post to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.comTo subscribe to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.comCurrent archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogueEarly archives athttp://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html---You received this message because you are subscribed to the GoogleGroups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, sendan 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 AustinTo post to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.comTo subscribe to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.comCurrent archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogueEarly archives athttp://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 anemail to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.--Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at AustinTo post to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.comTo subscribe to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.comCurrent archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogueEarly 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 anemail to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.--Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at AustinTo post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.comTo subscribe to this group, send an email toUSAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.comCurrent archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogueEarly 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 anemail to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
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