The Model Breaks Down

Nigeria, we hail thee,

Our own dear native land,

Though tribe and tongue may differ,

In brotherhood we stand.

--Nigerian National Anthem

In its four years of independence, Nigeria has been held up as a model for African democracy. Despite its 250 tribes and tongues, Africa's most populous nation (officially 55.6 million) seemed to stand in true and loyal brotherhood, linked by an expanding economy and a growing network of roads and power lines. Foreign capital was rolling in at close to $90 million a year, modern office buildings and factories were springing up from shantytowns, the literacy rate had been raised 50%, and four new universities were opened. Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa encouraged a free press, an active Parliament--and a boisterous political opposition. Nigerians liked to boast that their country was the only nation in Africa in which the government in power might actually lose an election.

Tragic Role. But last week as the nation held its first postindependence general election, there was precious little brotherhood, and Nigeria's model democracy lay in a shambles of violence, poll rigging, boycotting and threats. Any Nigerian who still felt like hailing his own dear native land would have to be quick about it: Nigeria was perilously close to a political breakup. "If Nigeria must disintegrate, then in the name of God, let the operation be short and painless," mourned President Nnamdi ("Zik") Azikiwe in a nationwide radio broadcast, calling on politicians to "summon a round-table conference to decide how our national assets should be divided." Continued Zik: "Should the politicians fail to heed this warning, then I venture the prediction that the experience of the Congo will be child's play if it ever comes our turn to play such a tragic role."

Realistically, Nigeria has never been a nation in much more than name. It is divided into three mutually suspicious ethnic areas, the semifeudal but dominant Moslem Northern Region, the enterprising and oil-rich Eastern Region, home of the clever Ibo tribesmen, and the relatively urbane Mid-Western and Western regions, where sophisticated Yoruba leaders like to say, "We are the English of Nigeria, clever and diplomatic, no final commitments and always a foot in each camp." And despite its democratic facade, Nigerian politics is little more than a raw power struggle between two shifting alliances of regional and tribal parties: the ruling National Nigerian Alliance (N.N.A.), whose power base lies among the proud, haughty Hausa and Fulani peoples of the north, and the opposition United Progressive Grand Alliance (U.P.G.A.), which is strongest in the three territories of east and west.

Hired Thugs. The campaign they conducted--to elect the 312-seat national House of Representatives--was anything but a model for democracy. The most attractive opposition leader, Western Region Premier Obafemi Awolowo, had been sentenced to a ten-year jail term for supposedly attempting to overthrow the federal government. On both sides, hired thugs (known as "party stalwarts") invaded enemy political rallies with rocks, machetes, guns, even bows and arrows.

In the populous north, the Moslem ruler, whose title is the Sardauna (Field Marshal) of Sokoto--the real power behind Prime Minister Balewa--removed all elements of chance. Aware that the north's 167 seats alone were enough to guarantee the N.N.A. continued control of the House, the Sardauna's police jailed 40 U.P.G.A. candidates on spurious charges, and election officials refused to register at least 20 others. The lonely opposition candidates remaining were turned away from hotels and restaurants all over the north, denied entrance to public buildings--and even found police roadblocks barring their way to the next town.

"Don't Vote." The breaking point came two weeks before the elections, when Northern election authorities announced that 64 N.N.A. candidates would return to Parliament--unopposed. Immediately, Opposition Leader Michael Okpara, Premier of the Eastern Region, demanded that the elections be postponed until "the irregularities have been regularized" and U.P.G.A. candidates allowed to register. President Azikiwe, himself an Ibo from the East, backed the demand. But Sir Abubakar refused, and with that, the U.P.G.A. high command ordered its followers to boycott the election and its candidates to withdraw.

Throughout much of the east and west, the boycott was a success. A protest strike paralyzed bus transportation and municipal government in Lagos, the capital. Angry mobs destroyed many polling booths, and on election day, most eastern and western citizens obeyed the instructions relayed by U.P.G.A. sound trucks: "Don't vote, don't vote."

But as the N.N.A. began to tot up its victory, Okpara's headquarters issued a chilling warning. Calling the election "a farce," the U.P.G.A. announced that unless "a free and fair election" were immediately forthcoming, the east-west alliance would reluctantly consider a proposal "to break up the Nigerian Federation peacefully" and allow the East to secede.

Zik himself prepared a speech for broadcast to the nation, threatening to resign rather than form a new government on the basis of the election. Then, at the last minute he cancelled the address, and joined a cabinet meeting in search of some form of compromise. But at week's end, Nigeria's unity still hung by a thread.

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