Right of Reply: Do not falsify Nigeria’s political history: Give Jonathan his due credit

Vanguard News|Abiodun Alade

“But those of us who are a bit more historically minded should know that concessions have been made in power by those who consider Nigeria far above their personal interest. It is on record that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe won the 1957 elections, for which the British colonial Governor-General, Sir James Robertson, first setting the standard of electoral manipulations and gerrymandering in Nigeria, invited Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to come first to head the government at the centre even before the votes had all fully come in 1957 for the first home rule government. Azikiwe conceded and bid his time even though his party was compensated by having the highest number of ministers in 1957 – 60 in the independence elections of 1959, again Azikiwe’s party had the highest plurality of votes nationwide and would very easily have formed the National government with the Action Group. But against a threat of Northern secession, much like today’s Boko Haram, compelled Azikiwe to agree to join the Northern Peoples Party in a ‘government of national unity”, one from which Awo’s Action Group opted out, but which along the road torpedoed the AG in due course.