More About Nigeria History

 

 Nigeria has a long history, with its roots in early civilisations of distinguished artistry. The plateau area around Jos was a meeting point for cultural influences from the Upper Niger Valley (where agriculture developed
independently as early as 5000 BCE) and from Egypt. By 3000 BCE, the plateau people  probably the Bantu people who later dominated Sub-Saharan Africa – were developing more complex societies and beginning to advance to the south.

 By 500 BCE, the Nok culture was
flourishing. Nok society produced elegant and technically accomplished terracotta heads and figures; they were agriculturalists making tools and weapons of iron.

 In due course, in the north, strong state
systems evolved, several based on divine
kingship. The people kept cattle and horses,
grew cotton and cereals, and worked in fabrics, leather and iron. They were in contact with Egypt and other north African societies.

 Two powerful empires arose – Hausa–Bokwoi (beginning as separate states from CE 100– 1000) and Kanem–Bornu (from the 11th century). They converted to Islam, traded in gold, slaves, leather, salt and cloth across the Sahara, and by and large successfully kept their enemies at bay.

 In the south-west, the Yoruba had, before CE 1000, founded Ife, still the spiritual centre of Yorubaland. The origins of Benin are connected
with Ife; Benin culture produced bronze
sculpture by the ‘lost wax’ technique. These are naturalistic but slightly idealised heads of great elegance, delicacy and beauty, regarded as a major contribution to the world’s artistic heritage. Ife itself, however, fell victim to conquest by Oyo in the 14th century and later Ibadan and Abeokuta. The people of the south- east were heavily preyed upon by slave traders
from the north and along the coast. Forced to abandon their settlements and move into the forests to evade their captors, the struggles of the Igbo peoples were preserved in long epics, memorised and passed down the generations.

  Colonial period

In the 15th century, Benin began to trade with the Portuguese, selling slaves and acquiring spices, firearms, the art of writing and the Christian religion. By the 18th century, the British had displaced the Portuguese as leaders
of the slave trade. A century later, in 1807, the missionaries’ campaign against slavery had gained support, leading the British parliament to ban the slave trade. The navy began to patrol the coast, arresting slavers and settling captured slaves (most of them Nigerians) in the
resettlement colony of Sierra Leone. Several
missionaries in Nigeria were themselves freed Nigerian slaves who had converted to
Christianity in Sierra Leone. The missionaries introduced quinine to control malaria, a new trade in palm oil also began, and the economies
of southern Nigeria became increasingly
powerful. Steamboats took this new culture up- river and into the forests.
In the early 19th century, there was upheaval in the north, as Fulani emirs declared a jihad (holy
war) against the Hausa state of Gobir and
created a new empire with city states, a
common religious and judicial system and
Qur’anic schools. The Muslim empire spread rapidly.

 The Yoruba, under pressure, drew closer to
Britain, which annexed Lagos in 1861. In 1884, British control expanded with the creation of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, set up under treaties with Yoruba rulers, and then the north, while the
Igbo were conquered. By 1900, Britain had
control of Nigeria.

 The Colonial Office adopted the system of
indirect rule, with traditional leaders continuing in power while owing allegiance to the colonial authority.

 Many educated Nigerians objected to the
system, since it entrenched traditional
practices which, in a freer society, would have evolved into possibly more progressive forms.
 Nonetheless, the system prevented British
settlers from dominating the economy, and
Nigerian enterprise built a substantial export trade in cocoa, groundnuts, leather, cotton and vegetable oils.

   Independence Period

Nigeria’s independence government was led by
the Northern People’s Congress in alliance with
the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (a
largely Igbo party), with Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa as Prime Minister. In 1963, the country
became a republic and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe its
first (non-executive) President.
The first of several coups occurred in January
1966 and Tafawa Balewa was among those
killed. Army commander Major-General Aguiyi-
Ironsi headed a new administration, which
abolished the federation and instituted a unitary
state. In July 1966, troops from the north
retaliated with another coup in which Aguiyi-
Ironsi was killed and Lt-Col Yakubu Gowon
assumed the leadership. He restored the
federal state and replaced the four regions with
12 states. He included civilians in government
and promised to restore democratic rule as
soon as possible.
In May 1967, Lt-Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu declared eastern Nigeria an
independent state named the Republic of Biafra.
This led to civil war. Hostilities lasted until Biafra
was defeated in January 1970 and Ojukwu went
into exile; the war cost some one million lives.
In 1975, Gowon was deposed in a coup and
replaced by Brigadier Murtala Muhammed, who
introduced radical economic reforms, a new
structure of 19 states and a programme for a
return to civilian rule in four years. He was
assassinated in an abortive coup in 1976. Lt-
Gen Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded and
continued Muhammed’s policies: the ban on
political activities was lifted (1978), multiparty
elections were held (1979) and Shehu Shagari of
the National Party of Nigeria became
(executive) President, re-elected in 1983.
However, in 1983 a military coup put an end to
this brief period of democracy. New head of
state Major-General Muhammadu Buhari
initiated a severe austerity programme with
campaigns against idleness and self-
enrichment. This provoked a further coup in
1985 bringing Major-General Ibrahim Babangida
to power. He repealed the most unpopular
decrees and, in 1987, promised a return to
civilian rule by 1992. In 1989 two parties were
formed (only two parties were permitted).
The transition to civilian rule went as far as
elections to state assemblies in 1991 and
presidential primary elections in 1992 (re- run
1993) before the whole process was halted. The
newly created Social Democratic Party won the
majority in both Houses, and its leader, Chief
Moshood Abiola, was believed to be leading in
the presidential elections. But before all the
results had been announced, the elections were
annulled by Babangida, who shortly after
resigned. For a few months civilian Chief Ernest
Shonekan was head of an interim government,
and charged with holding yet further elections.
However, in November 1993, in Nigeria’s
seventh coup, General Sani Abacha assumed
power and cancelled the scheduled return to
civilian rule. He dissolved the interim national
government, national and state assemblies, the
state executive councils and the two political
parties, and banned all political activity.
In June 1994 a constitutional conference was
held to devise a programme for a return to
civilian rule. The conference failed to reach
consensus. Shortly before it opened, Chief
Abiola, on the basis of the 1993 elections,
proclaimed himself President. He was arrested
and charged with treason; he was held in
solitary confinement and was never brought to
trial.
In March 1995, during a clamp-down after an
alleged counter- coup, the military arrested
prominent opponents of the regime and
campaigners for a rapid return to democracy,
including retired generals Olusegun Obasanjo
and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua – whose political
influence stemmed from the fact that they
headed the military government which handed
power to a civilian government in 1979.
Obasanjo and Yar’Adua were tried for treason
and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
Shortly afterwards, in October, Abacha further
postponed plans for a return to democracy, and
announced a new three-year timetable for
completing the transition by late 1998.
Amid the many political detentions of this
period, one of Nigeria’s most popular writers,
Ken Saro-Wiwa, leader of the campaign against
pollution of Ogoni lands and waters by the oil
industry, and eight others were arrested and
charged with the murder of local chiefs. They
were tried by a military court and executed on
10 November 1995, hours after the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
had opened in New Zealand. In response, on 11
November, Commonwealth Heads of
Government suspended Nigeria from
membership of the Commonwealth for
contravening the principles of the Harare
Commonwealth Declaration, and called for the
release of Abiola and 43 other political
prisoners.
In 1996 five parties were registered and local
elections took place in March 1997, when the
United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and
Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) won most
seats. At the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in Edinburgh, United
Kingdom, in October 1997 Nigeria’s suspension
from Commonwealth membership was extended
until 1 October 1998 by which time the Abacha
government had said it would restore
democracy and civilian government. If the
transition programme failed, or was not
credible, Nigeria would be expelled. In
December 1997, UNCP gained a majority in 29
of the 36 state assemblies.
By April 1998 all five registered political parties
had adopted Abacha as their candidate for the
August presidential election, although he had not
publicly agreed to stand. In the general election
in the same month, a very low poll, UNCP took
a majority of seats in both the House of
Representatives and the Senate. Abacha died
suddenly in June 1998 and was replaced as
head of state by Chief of Defence Staff General
Abdulsalami Abubakar, who promised to return
the country to civilian rule and released nine
political prisoners including Olusegun Obasanjo.
Chief Abiola also died suddenly, in July 1998
while his release from detention was still being
negotiated. He was 60 and, though some initially
suspected foul play, an international team of
pathologists who were called in to conduct an
autopsy confirmed he died of natural causes.
His health had however been adversely affected
by the harsh detention conditions.
Abubakar dissolved the principal bodies
associated with the Abacha regime’s
democracy programme, released detainees,
allowed unfettered political activity and
published a new election timetable. A new
Independent National Electoral Commission was
set up in August 1998. As a result of the local
government elections in December 1998, the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All People’s
Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD)
went forward to contest the state and federal
elections. The PDP took 23 state governorships,
APP eight and AD six. In the National Assembly
elections, PDP won nearly 60 per cent of the
seats in the House of Representatives and the
Senate. The presidential election gave PDP
candidate Obasanjo a convincing victory with 62
per cent of the votes against 38 per cent for
joint APP/AD candidate Chief Oluyemi Falae.
These federal elections were closely monitored
by international, including Commonwealth,
observers. Although cases of serious
irregularities were noted, especially in the
presidential poll, when the turnout figures were
often inflated, they were not deemed to have
brought the overall result into question.
In the wake of the elections, the departing
military rulers published a new constitution.
When Obasanjo became President in May 1999,
Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth
was lifted. The 1999 constitution, which
permitted the practice of Sharia law for
consenting Muslims, opened the way for some
northern states – led by Zamfara State in
October 1999 – to seek to implement it. This
plunged the country into a heated controversy
and some violence as Christians in these states
were not convinced by assurances that it would
not adversely affect them. This continued as the
northern states successively adopted Sharia
law. Zamfara was first to carry out an
amputation in March 2000 and Sokoto first to
sentence a woman to death by stoning for
adultery in October 2001.