WHY THE BREAKDOWN? The Macpherson Constitution was not faultless. The Regions classed over some of its provisions, and in March 1953, the constitution broke down completely. In a nation-wide broadcast on the crisis, Sir, John Macpherson said among other things”….. I myself said publicly, before the constitution came into being, that it was at the Centre that the machinery of our constitution would meet its severest test, let us face the difficulty of re-drawing the Constitution in such a way that it will be broadly acceptable to a country so large, so diverse, and so full of vigour.
Why did the Constitution break down? The NCNC on the one hand wanted a Constitution that would give greater powers to the central government. The NPC and Action Group, on the other, both wanted as much power in the Regions as possible. The total breakdown was a result, mainly, of party antagonisms. The NCNC was not prepared to give the Constitution a trial because its own leader had been excluded from the legislature. There was a sharp disagreement between NCNC Ministers in the Eastern and Central Governments who were disappointed by Dr.NnamdiAzikiwe’s exclusion from the Central Legislature and wanted to withdraw their support. At the 1952 NCNC Convention in Jos, three NCNC Ministers were expelled from the party. When it came to light that most of the NCNC Ministers in the East sympathized with their colleagues at the centre, a meeting of the party Eastern Parliamentary Committee asked for the resignation of all nine Ministers to pave the way for cabinet reshuffle. The Ministers resigned but when six of them discovered that they were not in the reshuffled cabinet, they withdrew their resignations which were promptly accepted by the Legal Secretary.
A situation then arose in the East whereby every Government bill was defeated by large majorities. The annual Appropriation Bill was not an exception. And to pass this very important bill, the Lieutenant Governor of the East, Sir Clement Please, had to resort to his reserve powers. The East then has a minority government led by the dissident Eastern Region Ministers and the expelled central Ministers.
It was the Action Group that brought the showdown which precipitated the final breakdown of the constitution. On April 1, Chief Anthony Enahoro, an Action group backbench man, introduced a private members’ Bill demanding self-government in 1956, it was obvious that the Northern members would oppose the motion, as they felt-rightly or wrongly- that the North was not ready for self-government at the time. In the Council of Ministers, the former Northern Ministers, together with the six European officials; voted that no Minister should participate in the debate.
The Four Action Group Ministers disagreed. The NIP Ministers abstained. But because of the doctrine of collective responsibility which expected the council to present a unified front, the Action Group Ministers resigned. The North tried to push a motion demanding self-government as soon as practicable. But both the Action Group and the NCNC walked out of the House. The Northern members were booed by Lagos crowds and many of them returned to their homes resolving never again to involve themselves in Southern politics.
The position worsened when the Action Group, whose leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had denounced Northern Leaders, announced a tour of Kano. The President banned the tour at the last minute but the publicity in favour of the tour had been sufficient to excite resentment by the local people against the south, though Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union welcomed the tour. The situation was tense in Kano because of the large Southern minority in the strangers’ quarter. There were serious riots, in which officials put the dead at 36 and the wounded at 241. Tribal and regional separation became very popular and it seemed Nigeria was certain to split in two.
The then Governor general, cigar-puffing Oliver Lyttleton, announced that the Constitution would be “Redrawn to provide for greater regional autonomy and for the removal of powers of intervention by the Centre in matters which could, without detriment to other Regions, be placed entirely within regional competence”.
This was followed by a Nigeria Constitutional Conference in London. The NPC, led by the late Sarduana of Sokoto had passed a resolution stating that the North would participate in the Federation only if all powers, except defence, external affairs, customs and research, were delegated to the regions. The Action group and the NCNC then in temporary alliance at first refused to attend the Conference if the NIP was there. They warned that if the North was not enthusiastic about self-governing they would demand the creation of a Southern Federation which would be self-governing in 1956. But both agreed on the delegation of residual powers to the Regions; and as allies, they remained reserved, if not silent, on the controversial issue of the status of Lagos. The NIP opposed self-governing in 1956 but called for a strong central legislative and the breakdown of the Regions into states.
But the conference was a success. The three major parties agreed to a Federal Constitution in which residual powers would be transferred to the Regions. The question of self-government in 1956 was side stepped by offering it to those Regions that wanted it in 1956, not to the Federation as a whole.
The Action Group-NCNC temporary alliance broke asunder over the issue of whether Lagos should remain part of the Western Region or become Federal Territory. The NCNC felt that a Federation should have a real Federal capital. But the Action Group insisted that Lagos was a Yoruba City, doing most of its trade with the West, and countered Northern fears by pointing out that the ports and railways were under Federal control. The warring parties later resolved to leave the issue to the arbitration of the Colonial Secretary who rules that Lagos should become Federal territory.
The Action group later attacked this decision. For a while, it seemed that the resumed Constitutional Conference in Lagos proposed for January 1954 would fail over the Lagos question. But when the conference opened, the Action Group did not raise the Lagos issue, but demanded, instead, that the right to secession be included in the constitution. This was rejected by the Colonial Secretary and the Action Group did not press the point further. Nigeria became a full-fledged federation of three Regions with Lagos as federal capital. A house of Representative of 184 members, half of them representing the North, was to be elected every five years. The principle of full ministerial responsibility for department affairs was settled. In the Regions, provision was made for the appointment of Premier and an all-African Executive Council, with the exception of the Governor who continued to preside. It was agreed that the new Constitution would be reviewed before August 1956.
From the 1954 Constitution to the achievement of Independence on October 1, 1960, Nigerian leaders were preoccupied not so much with taking power, but with laying a suitable foundation for co-operation in the interest of post-independence development.
The agreement of the NPC and the NCNC, whose views were miles apart on many issues, to team up in the Federal Government, was perhaps the most significant. Some felt that it made national unity possible others felt it gave the nation a false unity.
In 1955, Sir John Macpherson retired. Though the Constitution named after him was a failure, he was praised, even by extreme nationalist elements, who appreciated that the accelerated constitutional progress made by the country was due to his enthusiasm and understanding of the needs of the Young Federation. His successor, Sir James Robertson proved to be a square peg in a square hole. He improved relations between Nigeria and Britain, and these cordial relations were further consolidated by the visit in 1956 of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
The 1957 conference revised the 1954 constitution both in the light of experience and in accordance with foreseen constitutional advance. Federal House was enlarged to 320 members, who were to be elected directly on the same traditional basis except that Northern women were not given the vote in accordance with the Region’s Moslem beliefs. But it had been difficult to see how the various warring parties could agree on a prime Minister since no one party commanded an overall majority in the Federal House. The greater interest of the Nation prevailed, however, the three giant parties – NPC, NCNC and AG – formed a national government under the late Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the former minister of Transport and Deputy president of the NPC.
Though in his early days, Sir Abubakar had talked in terms of Northern Separation, by 1957 he had been fully convinced that national co-operation was of the utmost necessity. Unlike most of the Northern leaders, he did not belong to the Hausa-Fulani aristocracy; and as a man from a small tribe and as a proven administrator and astute Parliamentarian, he had earned the respect of all sides.
With the appointment of the Late Sir, Abubarkar as prime Minister, and the unified front put up to by all parties, it thus appeared that Nigeria was ready for independence in 1957. It was with considerable relief that delegates to the 1957 conference heard the Late Sarduana of Sokoto, scion of the Royal house of Sokoto, announce that his Region would in fact be self-governing in 1959. The fear that Northern reluctance for self-government might hold up independence was immediately allayed.
At the 1958 constitutional conference held in London, it was unanimously agreed that Nigeria should be independent on October 1 960, depending on the passing of a resolution by the new Federal Parliament early in 1960 when the British Government undertook to introduce the necessary legislation in the UK Parliament to give effect to this desire. Self- government was granted to the Northern Region on March 15 1559.
Nigeria went to the pools on December 12 1959 to elect a new House of Representatives that would usher in Independence. The new House held its maiden meeting on January 13 1960 in the converted National hall in Lagos. On January 15, after a three day debate, it unanimously passed a resolution demanding independence. The newly formed senate endorsed the motion. At the same time, the resolution requested that in conjunction with other members of the commonwealth, the British Government should seek agreement to make Nigeria a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
There was a meeting in London in May 1960 at which the final form of the act of Independence was agreed between Nigerian leaders and the British Government to bring to end British leasehold which from the annexation of Lagos, has lasted for 99 years.
And so, Nigeria a nation of great diversity and complexity of tremendous promise and wealth was born.
Today Nigeria is 64 years. How have we fared? Have we achieved the much – talked about unity? Today, after 64 years we are still searching for a suitable Constitution. What a shame.
