By Adisa Adeleye

In those palmy days before this country was colonized, each nation state existed to satisfy the wishes of the people through their leaders.  The concept of ‘Divine Rights of Kings‘ was enjoyed by all those who were born in palaces and also, those who acquired Kingship through conquests of other lands. Thus, kingship could be by birth or by force.

The old Sokoto Caliphate and the dissolved Oyo Empire were classical examples of religious and cultural revolutions which later developed into despotic and dynastic institutions.  The founders of the Sokoto Caliphate, Usman Danfodio (1754-1814) was a religious crusader without any recorded dynastic inclinations.  However all his sons, except Mohammed Buhari (3rd son) reigned as Sultans after his death.  The Caliphate which spread over the Hausa/Fulani north was conquered by the British in 1902.

Oduduwa of the Yoruba mythology was reported to have migrated from Saudi Arabia to Ile_Ife (South_west Nigeria) with his followers.  After subjugating the natives, he consolidated his position and left for medical treatment.  His sons with dynastic aims moved across many areas of the West and became kings.  One of the sons of Oduduwa, Oranmiyan founded Oyo-Ile, which became the capital of the famous Oyo Empire. Thus, a cultural revolution by a legendary figure had turned to become a despotic dynasty.

At the start of the 20th century, the British came to destroy the mini-empires.  The Sokoto Caliphate was defeated in 1902 while the Oyo Empire has been liquidated by the Fulani forces in 1830.  However, the principal Obas of Yorubaland, the Alaafin of Oyo and the Awujale of Ijebu-Ode had been humiliated by the British forces in the early 1900s.  It could be said that by the first decade of the 20th century, both the Northern and Western part of Nigeria were already under British control.

The direct military confrontation between the Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba had seen the loss of Ilorin to Hausa/Fulani forces in the first three decades of the 19th century and the eventual defeat of Ilorin Hausa/Fulani forces at Oshogbo in 1840, thus preventing the dipping of the Quran into the sea.

The amalgamation of Northern and Southern Provinces in 1914 created Nigeria of today.

The crafty British ruled the amalgamated provinces as separate entities until the advent of Mcpherson Constitution of the 1950s created the Northern, Western and Eastern regional governments and their legislatures.  The act of political liberation provided three strong regions and three regional leaders with three dominating political parties.

The North had the Northern Peoples‘ Congress (NPC) led by Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto; the East had Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as the national leader of National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and the West had the leader of the Action Group (AG), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a good administrator and a brilliant lawyer, but lacking in deep understanding of the North and their ways of life.

The politics of the 1950s was that of peaceful co0-existence with the three regional leaders, working carefully on national political rope, but fully in control of their respective regions.  Also, there was healthy rivalry in social developments.

A policy of Free Education in the west was followed by the same in the East; Education had always been free in the North for all in Native Authority schools.  The three regional leaders had strong economic base – Cocoa (West), Palm Produce (East) and Groundnut (North), with its famous Pyramids.  The North had Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna; East had University of Nigeria Nsukka and Enugu Stadium, Enugu and the West built University of Ile-Ife and Liberty Stadium, Ibadan.

The era of healthy regional competition pervaded the 1950s even in the absence of oil revenue.  Before 1960, politics was a bit refined, (though there were some violent clashes).  Politicians were superficially friendly and the leaders were less tolerant of opposition both within and outside.

The pre-independence politics could be described as tolerable in the sense that politics was being played within the regional boundary with little incursions from outside.

The terrible baby was the Action Group which ventured into minority areas of the East and the non-pacific sides of Benue.  Their Surtees were often repelled, but not fully successful.

The Post-Independence era featured politics of bitterness and stupidity that led into a senseless first military coup, counter-coups and eventually, an unnecessary but costly civil war.  During the 1960s, the gladiators of the 1950s had been silenced.

Dr Azikiwe had abandoned bitter politics for an ambiguous post of the President; Chief Awolowo was in prison, Sir. Ahmadu Bello went with the coup of 1966.  The end of the war in 1970 and the return of civilians and the civilian rule (1979-83) was another dark spot on the country‘s political history.  That period brought corruption into politics and the long military rule (1983-99).

Sadly, the supposedly reformist military rule led to the destruction of economic infrastructures which the subsequent civilian government (under a former army general) was unable to restore.  The era between 1999 and 2007 could be assessed in terms of missed opportunities in an atmosphere of increasing oil revenue and deepening poverty.  It could be classified as the heyday of political corruption and electoral malpractices, manifesting in killings of party members.  The admirable action of former President (Obasanjo) was his ability to prevent former coup leaders‘ access to the throne again.

Today, the political sky is cloudy and the future is uncertain.  The Boko Haram threat is real with its ability to throw bombs in a destructive fashion.  We are busy wasting precious time debating on the term in office of the President and the governors and not how to eradicate poverty and increase employment. Mass unemployment is a more deadly enemy to any government.

As to the future, the sane advice to President Jonathan is that he should arrange for a Conference/Dialogue to determine how all Nigerians will live together in a peaceful and united nation.  Or are we to be left to the kind gestures of the gods?

From those past halcyon days of competitive politics to the active turbulent period of the present, times have changed for worse, living vestiges of religious and ethnic bitterness.