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'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 were mere justifications, although they were
> very elaborate.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On 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 the
>> British not only favored the North but worked to empower the conservative
>> politicians of the NPC to take over at independence", is in line with
>> basic British 'fudge' instinct: If they must succumb, then the weakest
>> link is strongly preferred. But do not be fooled by this love affair; the
>> same fate visited any Northern aristocrat who tried to rock the boat
>> during this decolonisation period. In other words, it was very much a
>> British script on offer.
>>
>> Malami
>>
>> Prof Malami Buba
>> Department of English Language & Linguistics,
>> Sokoto State University, Sokoto
>> PMB 2134, Birnin Kebbi Road, Sokoto
>> NIGERIA
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 3 Jan 2016, at 15:33, Moses Ochonu wrote:
>>>
>>>> It is not a scam. It has been circulating for almost a decade. It is a
>>>> largely true account, a product of neocolonial guilt and soul searching
>>>> by a colonial actor. The British did not hide their desire to see
>>>> northerners take over the leadership of post-independence Nigeria and
>>>> worked towards it. Historians who have read colonial correspondence,
>>>> diaries of colonial officials, and the many published and unpublished
>>>> memoirs of former colonial officials will testify to this bias. It is
>>>> thus not only plausible that they manipulated the census to give an
>>>> electoral advantage to to the North, what Smith is saying is entirely
>>>> consistent with the cardinal objective of British decolonization in
>>>> Nigeria: to install a conservative postcolonial government they could
>>>> trust not to move away from the commonwealth and towards a socialist or
>>>> pan-African agenda of total decolonization. As a result, they loved and
>>>> cultivated ties with the aristocrats/politicians of the Northern
>>>> People's Congress (NPC), a conservative political party of Northern
>>>> aristocrats and their supporters.
>>>
>>>
>>>> The British (and the Americans) detested the NCNC and the AG, the two
>>>> main southern political parties, whose leaders, Azikiwe and Awo, were
>>>> considered too radical and too anti-colonial for the kind of
>>>> postcolonial government the British were trying to install upon their
>>>> "departure." To be sure, the British had always had a soft spot for the
>>>> conservative and gradualist disposition of the northern emirates and
>>>> disdain for the Western educated intelligentsia of the South. This
>>>> attitude started from the very beginning of unified colonial Nigeria in
>>>> 1914, even before. If you read Philip Zachernuck's book you will see
>>>> this tension between the Southern intelligentsia and colonial
>>>> authorities. Matters came to a head during the amalgamation proposals,
>>>> when the Southern Western educated elites vehemently attacked the
>>>> proposals, perhaps Nigeria's first coordinated anticolonial campaign. By
>>>> the way, I have published on some of these themes, especially the
>>>> British 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 colonial
>>> business. In fact the French were more brazen in this pursuit. A Columbia
>>> University graduate student is writing her entire dissertation on the
>>> topic of electoral manipulation and election rigging in colonial French
>>> West Africa. She gave a brilliantly revealing presentation at a
>>> conference at attended in Columbia last year. The popular, three-part
>>> al-jazeera documentary "The French-African Connection" lay bare such
>>> manipulations in several colonies--Cameroon, Gabon, etc, with testimonies
>>> and interview footage of former colonial officials and intelligence
>>> operatives who participated in or coordinated the rigging confessing to
>>> their deeds.
>>>
>>> A small personal anecdote: at another conference last year, I made a
>>> prefatory remark during my presentation, saying basically that there was
>>> a certain affinity between the aristocrats of the North and British
>>> colonial officialdom, and that the British seemed to be drawn to the
>>> Northern aristocrats' political disposition and their religio-political
>>> tradition. Professor Murray Last, author of the most authoritative book
>>> on the Sokoto Caliphate, who was at the same conference, promptly
>>> interjected to say that there was no need for me to be tentative, since
>>> it was well established and well documented that the British not only
>>> favored the North but worked to empower the conservative politicians of
>>> the NPC to take over at independence.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>
>>>> On Jan 2, 2016, at 10:30 PM, kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> hi ademola
>>>> in my opinion it reads like a scam.
>>>> ken
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/2/16 8:09 PM, Ademola Dasylva wrote:
>>>>> I saw this piece on WhatsApp and USAAFRICADIALOGUE, and felt it is
>>>>> worth drawing attention to; that is, provided the claimed source is
>>>>> genuine. One cannot be too sure nowadays:
>>>>>
>>>>> BRITON CONFESSES TO FRAUDULENT CENSUS IN NIGERIA
>>>>> The man Harold Smith is not new in Nigerian history. He is one of the
>>>>> architects of colonial foundation that midwife Nigerian independence in
>>>>> 1960. His response was "I am in my 80s now; I have agreed but in the
>>>>> past' they' did not want me to say anything, but now I don't want to go
>>>>> to my grave without telling the truth about the atrocities perpetrated
>>>>> in Africa by the colonialists. Brothers and sisters; on Ben TV last
>>>>> Thursday, Harold Smith was on a program to reveal what went behind the
>>>>> scene before the independence. The Oxford University graduate had this
>>>>> to say about his role in Nigeria pre and after independence era.
>>>>>
>>>>> 'Our agenda was to completely exploit Africa . Nigeria was my duty
>>>>> post. When we assessed Nigeria, this was what we found in the southern
>>>>> region; strength, intelligence, determination to succeed, well
>>>>> established history, complex but focused life style, great hope and
>>>>> aspirations… the East is good in business and technology, the west is
>>>>> good in administration and commerce, law and medicine, but it was a
>>>>> pity we planned our agenda to give power "at all cost" to the
>>>>> northerner. They seemed to be submissive and silly of a kind. Our
>>>>> mission was accomplished by destroying the opposition at all fronts.
>>>>> The west led in the fight for the independence, and was punished for
>>>>> asking for freedom. They will not rule Nigeria !
>>>>>
>>>>> Harold Smith confessed that the Census results were announced before
>>>>> they were counted. Despite seeing vast land with no human but cattle in
>>>>> the north, we still gave the north 55 million instead of 32 Million.
>>>>> This was to be used to maintain their majority votes and future power
>>>>> bid. He stated that the West without Lagos was the most populous in
>>>>> Nigeria at that time but we ignored that. The north was seriously
>>>>> encouraged to go into the military. According to him, they believe that
>>>>> the south may attend western education, but future leaders will always
>>>>> come from military background. Their traditional rulers were to be made
>>>>> influential and super human. The northerners were given accelerated
>>>>> promotions both in the military and civil service to justify their
>>>>> superiority over the south. Everything was to work against the south.
>>>>> We truncated their good plan for their future. "I was very sorry for
>>>>> the A.G; it was a great party too much for African standard. We planned
>>>>> to destroy Awolowo and Azikiwe well, the west and the east and sowed a
>>>>> seed of discord among them". We tricked Azikiwe into accepting to be
>>>>> president having known that Balewa will be the main man with power.
>>>>> Awolowo has to go to jail to cripple his genius plans for a greater
>>>>> Nigeria . However, Harold Smith justified the British agenda of
>>>>> colonialism in Nigeria , which he believed was originally to help build
>>>>> Africa after the ruins of slave trade, but lamented that the British
>>>>> only looked after themselves and not after Nigerian interest. The
>>>>> British really let Nigeria down. When I see Nigerian been accused of
>>>>> fraud and from what I saw on the streets of Lagos ; the British were
>>>>> worst fraudsters. Looking at the northern leaders now he said, "If they
>>>>> have any agenda in Nigeria at all, sadly it is only for the north, and
>>>>> nothing for Nigeria . He stated that the British look after the British
>>>>> people and this is so all over the world. He said the time has come now
>>>>> to see people of intelligent minds with an open and inclusive agenda
>>>>> for all Nigerians in power…people who will really look after Nigerians
>>>>> large population…but "I still curiously and sorrowfully see now that
>>>>> the British has not let go of Nigeria…her wealth,. her potentials, her
>>>>> future. He opined that the Caucasian people now assert themselves as
>>>>> the keeper of the "New Age" keys. He therefore said that it is only
>>>>> logical for Europeans to maintain their position of power, scientific
>>>>> superiority, economic exploitation, they must continue to perpetuate
>>>>> their lies and falsehoods and this is the most unkindest cut of all in
>>>>> relation to Nigeria situation!
>>>>>
>>>>> According to him, Nigeria , a great nation was crippled not because of
>>>>> military juntas or corrupt leaders alone but by the British and
>>>>> American fear of Nigeria great future. He confessed, "The fear of the
>>>>> place that will be our 'dumping ground' really occupied our minds".
>>>>> Some of the things he said were not new to Nigerians or to the whole
>>>>> world but hearing it from the horse's mouth is quite revealing and
>>>>> established more reality zones. He finally submitted that the colonial
>>>>> masters have caused havoc while they were in Africa , and planted timed
>>>>> bombs when they finally left. What we see since independence, the
>>>>> administration of new internal colonial masters by fellow Nigerians
>>>>> holding sway in power is doing more damage to Nigeria . Instead of
>>>>> detonating the time bombs planted by the British, the north is planting
>>>>> mines. He added that 'It was my duty to carry out all of the above and
>>>>> I was loyal to my country. Nigerians should try to be loyal to their
>>>>> country leaders and followers alike. Love your country. You have got
>>>>> the potentials to be great again and the whole world knows this'.
>>>>> I am sorry for the above evil done to Nigeria . I c[truncated by
>>>>> WhatsApp]
>>>>>
>>>>> Ademola O. Dasylva
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
>>>>> --
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>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>>> professor of english
>>>> michigan state university
>>>> department of english
>>>> 619 red cedar road
>>>> room C-614 wells hall
>>>> east lansing, mi 48824
>>>> ph. 517 803 8839
>>>> harrow@msu.edu
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>
>>>
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>
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