The Unsmoked Cigar

At the House of Representatives in the West African city of Lagos (pop. 250,000), British Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton rapped for order one day last week at a conference of Nigeria's political leaders. "This is one of Churchill's cigars," said the Colonial Secretary, depositing a miniature torpedo in the center of the conference table. "I propose not to smoke it unless we get into difficulties, but if you see me light it you will know that a crisis has been reached."

The Africans round the table took heed: they well understood that if the cigar was lighted, Nigeria's hopes for early independence might easily go up in smoke. Lyttelton's object at the conference was to devise a new federal constitution that will enable Nigeria's 30 million to achieve self-government along the same lines as their neighbors in the boom ing Gold Coast, without falling out in the process. The Africans too are eager for independence -- but divided in factions.

Nigeria divides naturally into three parts: the Moslem north, whose 16 mil lion are ruled by Moslem Emirs; the southwest, where the Yoruba people, led by Barrister Obafemi Awolowo, make their headquarters in the world's largest Negro city, Ibadan (pop. 459.000); and the southeast, which is Ibo-land, presided over by big-eared Nnamdi (Zik) Azikiwe, the flamboyant, U.S.-educated newspaper publisher whose oratory sways the Lagos mob. Usually, Ibo and Yoruba make common cause against the Moslem north; but last week their leaders were feuding over the flourishing port of Lagos.

Zik wants Lagos to become a federal capital, "like Washington," electing its own representatives (whom he would control) without reference to Awolowo, in whose territory it sits. Lyttelton gave his blessing to the idea of a Nigerian D.C., and the result was that Dr. Zik suddenly proclaimed himself an "I-Like-Lyttelton" man. Awolowo's reaction was to blast the burly Tory as "a Machiavellian divider and ruler," and to threaten to pull Yoru-baland out of the federation.

Lyttelton's Churchillian cigar brought Awolowo to his senses. At week's end it was still unsmoked, and the conference had approved: 1) financial arrangements for an all-Nigerian government; 2) a reorganization of its cocoa-marketing board, which has a financial half nelson on the world's chocolate prices. Proposed solution for Lagos: federal status, with its own special minister, independent of both Zik and Awolowo.

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