THE ENTITY CALLED NIGERIA BY BABA ALI MUSTAPHA
Introduction to the history of Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa, occupy the basins of Niger and Benue Rivers and extensive adjacent territories. Population (1963) 55,678,055, Area 356,699 sq metres by miles. Nigeria consisted of four regions known officially as:
Northern Nigeria;
Eastern Nigeria;
Western Nigeria; and
Mid-West Nigeria (which is now known as six geopolitical zones as South East, South West, South South, North Central, North East, North West)
And the Federal territory of Lagos until the reorganization in 1967, which divided the country into 12 states. Today, the country comprises of 36 states which come on stream in 1996 with the federal capital territory moved from Lagos to Abuja in 1991. The population is presently estimated at 170 million.
The Republic is a member of the commonwealth of Nations. It extends northwards from the elbow of the Gulf of Guinea between latitude 4o and 14oN and is bounded west by the Republic of Dahamey (Republic of Benin), north by the Republic of the Niger, and by the Republics of Chad and Cameroun.
Very little is known of the history of Nigeria until the country was first visited by the Portuguese navigators in the second half of the 15th century. Before this time, there was little contact between inhabitants of the country and the northern region of the country. Until the Europeans visited the coast of Nigeria, the only contacts of Nigeria with the outside world were with the Eastern Sudan and across the Sahara, with the Muslim states of North Africa.
THE TRIBES OF NIGERIA
1. Bornu and the Hausa Lands
The principal people in the north were the Kanuri who occupied Bornu, the Hausa-speaking tribe, and the Fulani. The entire Kanem, of which Bornu was a province, by the end of the 11thcentury A.D extended both east and west of Lake Chad and included the greater part of the Hausa lands. Toward the end of the 14th century the power of Kanem waned and the empire shrank until little was left of it except Bornu. Meanwhile, to the west of Bornu, the fortunes of the Hausa state rose and fell. These states, the most important of which Kano, Daura, Gobir, and Katsina has existed from an early date, each independent of the others, and often fighting for supremacy, but joining from time to time in a loose confederancy for mutual defence. Conquered in turn by Kanem and by Mohammed Askia the Great King of Songhai (Gao) early in the 16th century they retained their identities under native rulers who acknowledged their suzerainty of the conquerors. When the influence of Songhai declined and the Hausa states recovered their independence they engaged again in internecine wars and were overrun at different time by the armies of Borno or of Kebbi, a state to the west of the Hausa lands, which was of importance in the 16thcentury.
Meanwhile for several centuries there had been a steady movement into the Hausa lands of Pastoral tribe, the Fulani, of whose origin little is known, while most of the Fulani remained with their herds, moving from place to place in search of water and pastorage, a number drifted to the towns and mingled with the Hausa population. These ‘town Fulani” were quickly established in positions of influence.
Such a position had been taken by Usman (Othman) dan Fodio, a fanatical Fulani Sheikh of great reputed sancity who had made the pilgrim to Mecca. When, about 1802, Usman intervened on behalf of a number of Muslims who had been enslaved, the pagan king of Gobir ordered his arrest and Usman roused his followers to revolt. Recognized as Sakin Musulmi (Commander of the faithful) Usman was supported by the Fulani and some Muslim Hausa and easily defeated the forces of the king of Gobir, later conquering all the Hausa lands in a triumphant Jihad which was directed at Lax or lukewarm Muslims and pegans. Bornu a Muslim state was overrun in 1808 but quickly recovered its independence. Fulani emirs were appointed as rulers of the various states and the Fulani empire was established from Gondo (Gandu) in the west to Adamawa in the east. Usman was succeeded by his son Bello, who as a sultan of Sokoto, was recognized as Sarkin Musulmi of Suzerain of all the Fulani emirates.
The courts and the system of government and taxation which were based on Koranic law of Hausa state were adapted with little change by the new Fulani rulers, and for a time a high standard of justice and administration was maintained. However gradually the courts became corrupt and the administration extortionate and tyrannical (amirs raiding neighbouring pegan tribe and sometimes even their own subjects to get slaves). This state of affairs continued until the British occupation of the country.
When the Bornu armies were defeated by the fulani in 1808 and the Mai (king) was forced to flee before the invaders, the country was saved by a military skill of Lamino (Mohammed al-Amin al-Kanemi) a Muslim Sheikh born in Fezzan of Arab and Kanem descent. With a small force of fanatical followers he defeated the Fulani in a number of battles and drove them from Bornu. He restored the Mai to his throne and allowed him to continue as a titular ruler but retained all powers to himself, governing the country wisely and well, with the title of Shehu (Sheikh), until his death in 1835. The puppet Mai then attempted to recover his lost power but was defeated and killed by Omar, Laminu’s son who continued to rule Bornu with a title of Shehu.
In 1893 Bornu was invaded by Rabah-Zubuyr who made himself ruler of Bornu. In 1900, however, Rabih was defeated and killed by the French, who were extending their control over the western Sudan.
2. The Coastal Tribes
To the south of Bornu and the Hausaland were a large number of tribes having various origins and customs and speaking distinct languages of these the largest and most important were the Yoruba and Beni or Bini (also Benin) who occupied what later became the western region of Nigeria and the Igbo in what became the Eastern region. The Ibo(Igbo) tribe was divided into several clan speaking different dialects and lacking any central organization. For this reason, it had practically no recorded history until after the British occupation. The same could be said of the numerous small tribes which inhabited the forest area and the mountainous areas of the north.
The Bini and Yoruba, on the other hand, had long established states which at various time reached a much higher standard of organization and culture than most of the purely Negro people attained. When the first Portuguese ships reached the Nigerian coast in the 15th century, the Bini had long been an important nation, and the Oba(King) of Benin was a powerful monarch whose authority extended over the Yoruba country and even farther west. Friendly intercourse and a certain amount of trade, mainly in slave were established between the Portuguese and the Bini. But the tribe gradually declined in power as the Oba came under the influence of a theocracy that maintained authority by the terror created through wholesale human sacrifices. They discouraged contacts with Europeans, trade dwindled, and by the beginning of the 18th century Benin had lost influence.
In the meantime the Yoruba had risen in importance. Little is known of their origin, but they supposedly came from the North east and perhaps from upper Egypt. The first settlement of the Yoruba in western Nigeria was probably at Ife, which was to remain the spiritual headquarters of the people. The Alafin of Oyo was originally the ruler of the whole tribe, but about 1810 the breakup of this kingdom began. Each clan, under its king, becomes practically independent although Alafin’s normal suzerainty continued to be recognized. The country suffered from repeated invasion from Dahomy (Republic of Benin), while the northern province of Ilorin fell, to Fulani from the north. The different clans Oyo, Egba, Ife, Ijebu and other became involved in internecine wars, prisoners of which were sold at Lagos as slave.
3. The Slave Trade
Traffic in slaves began by the Portuguese proved so lucrative that other nations were soon in competition and the slave ships of several European nations flocked to the Guinea coast. British ships were visiting the coast of Nigeria by the 17thcentury. Much of the trade was with minor chiefs and tribes in the Niger Delta and on the banks of other rivers, the slaves being obtained by these middlemen from the interior. Payment was made in portable spirits and arms and ammunition which encouraged intertribal warfare. Throughout the period of unrestricted slave trade no European nations attempt to bring any part of Nigeria under its control.
The slave trade was made illegal for British subjects in 1807, but the trade was scarcely affected as ships of other nations continued to carry cargoes of slaves across the Atlantic. A British naval squadron was then stationed on the west African coast to intercept the slaves. British merchant ships continued to visit the estuaries of the Niger rivers and began a legitimate trade, buying palm oil and other products. This fact and the activities of the naval squadron greatly increased British influence among the coastal tribes.
4. Exploration
At what time was known of the interior of Africa and it was not even appreciated that the numerous streams of the Niger Delta were infact the mouths of a great river. Existence of such a river had long been known but its general direction and outlets were matters of speculation. Several explorers failed before Mungo Park, in 1976 established the fact that the general course of the upper Niger was easterly. Park lost his life at the end of 1805 or early 1806 in an attempt to follow up his discovery. It was not until 1830 that the Richard and John Lander ascertained that the Niger flowed into the Gulf of Guniea, though the Delta which had been known to Europeans for more than 300 years.
Other explorers reached Northern Nigeria across the Sahara from Tripoli. In 1823 Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton reached Bornu, where they were received by the Mai and the Shehu Laminu. Clapperton then visited Sokoto and met with Sultan Bello and the party returned safely to England in 1825. Clapperton died near Sokoto in 1927 on a second journey made from the Bright of Benin. Another extensive exploration was carried out by Heinrich Barth on behalf of the British Government.
Meanwhile an attempt had been made to follow up the discovery of the Landers brothers by trading venture on the Niger to provide an alternative to the slave trade. A company was formed by a Liverpool Mergregor Laid, who went in 1832 with two small steamers to a point above Lokoja, but disease discriminated the crew and the exploration was abandoned. 1841 a large party, including Missionaries was sent by the British government in four ships under the Command of naval officers, to explore the Niger and try to make treaties of stopping slave trade. In two months there were 48 deaths out of 145 Europeans in the ships. Others became seriously ill, and the enterprise was abandon. It was not until 1854 that a singleship commanded by W.B. Baikie with a crew composed largely of Africans was able to explore the Niger and Benue and to do certain amount of successful trading without any loss of life, the success resulting from the Prophylactic use of quinine.
5. The Beginning of the British Rule
By that time, the trade in palm oil which the coastal Africa found remunerative had greatly increased, while the slave trade declined in the Niger Delta and on the oil rivers to the end of it, although it was not until about 1840 that slave ships stopped visiting these rivers. To assist legitimate trade it was decided in 1849 to appoint a British consul for the Brights of Biafa and Benin, with his headquarters at Fernondo Po for many years as superintendent of the naval base there.
Beecroft was soon engaged in negotiations with King Kosoko of Lagos (then the principal port in West Africa from which slaves were shipped) with a view to stopping the trade, but the negotiations were unsuccessful, and in 1851 the town was attacked by a naval force and captured after heavy fighting. Kosoko fled, and his uncle Akintoye, the legitimate ruler, was placed on the throne, he signed a treaty providing for the abolition of the slave trade and of human sacrifice and for the protection of missionaries. A British consul was appointed to Lagos with the king’s concept.
In 1861 Akintoye’s successor, Dosumu, who appeared unable to govern effectively or to prevent the revival of the slave trade was regulated to sign a treaty ceding his possessions to the British crown in return for a pension and Lagos was annexed as British Colony. For a time the existence of this colony, which effectively stopped the slave trade and provided a haven for runaway slaves, was strongly resented by the Yoruba in the hinterland of Lagos and especially by the Egba, who closed the trade routes and expelled all missionaries and Europeans trades. At a later date, however, British influence increased in the Yoruba country; the civil wars which had raged for so many years among the Yoruba were brought to an end, and in 1888 a treaty with the Alafin of Oyo placed the whole of the Yoruba country under British protection.
After his successful vayage in 1854, Baike had established himself at Lokoja under the protection of the Emir of Nupe and maintained his more or less official settlement from trading profits. A number of European companies also began to trade on the Niger. In 1879 George Goldie-Tubman(later known as Sir George Goldie) who was interested on one of the companies, arranged a merger of all the British firms trading on Niger; and a few years later he was able to buy out the rival French companies. Treaties were made with the chiefs of the tribes inhabiting the banks of the Niger and the Benue and with the Fulani Sultan of Sokoto, and at the Berlin Conference of 1885 it was possible to claim that British interest were supreme on the Niger and oil rivers. This claim was admitted by the conference and a British protectorate was then declared over the Niger districts which included the oil river area and the hinterland.
The vague authority of the consul had gradually increased in the oil river, and courts of equity, composed of the leading African and European traders on the different rivers had been established. In 1872 and order of the queen in council had regularized the Judicial and administrative position of the consul, but he had for a time title means of enforcing his authority. In 1887, however chief Jaja of Opobo was removed and deported in consequence of his interference with trade and defence of the consul. In 1891 a commissioner and consul general was appointed to the Oil rivers with a headquarters at Calabar, and in 1893 the territory was renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate.
6. The Royal Niger Company
In 1886 a royal charter was granted to the organized by Sir George Goldie, which later was called the Royal Niger Company, charted and limited. The company was authorized to administer the Delta and the country on the banks of the Niger and the Benue together with the hinterland but was forbidden to establish any monopoly of trade. The company at once set up courts of justice and the usual administrative services and raised an armed constabulary. Most of the Fulani empire was beyond its control but in 1897 after a short campaign, the company’s troops were able to subdue Ilorin and Nupe and to compel the emirs of these states to abandon slave trading and recognize the suzerainty of the company.
Meanwhile on the coast, the people of Brass who were included in the Niger Coast Protectorate and excluded (except on payment of prohibitive dues) from trading in their former markets on the Niger which lay within the company’s territory became increasingly hostile. In 1895 they raided the company’s establishment at Akassa, killing many of African employees of the company and carrying off others as prisoners, some of these being killed and eaten. This outrage was punished by a naval force.
7. Benin
Another naval force, assisted by the protectorate constabulary, had captured (1894) Brohemie on the Benin River, the headquarters of the Jekri Chief Nana, who had traded in slave trade extensively. Nana was captured, tried and deported.
The principal centre of the slave trade in the Niger Coast Protectorate was then the city of Benin, which was also known for the practice of human sacrifice. King Overami of Benin had failed to implement a treaty he had signed in 1892 for the abolition of human sacrifice and of the slave trade, and the acting consul general, J.R. Phillips suggested that he should visit Benin to discuss the matter, the King replied that he would be willing to receive Phillips within a few months time, but Phillip was not prepared to wait and decided, inspite of warnings to go at once to Benin. He so informed the King, assuring him that his party would be unarmed, in reply Overami promised to send guides to meet the party. On January 3, 1897, Phillips and his party landed at Gwata, where a friendly welcome was received through messengers sent by the King. The next day, however, the party started for Benin and within a few hours it was massacred, only two of the Europeans, badly wounded, and few of the Africans escaping. Phillip and six of his European companions and more than 200 Africans perished.
A naval force was sent at once to Benin River, and sailors and marines with troops of the protectorate constabulary, captured Benin after a severe fighting about six weeks after massacre. After a judicial inquiry, those who were directly responsible for the massacre were executed and Overami was deported.
8. Northern and Southern Nigeria
On the western frontier, dispute with France (which were to be embittered in 1898 by the Fashoda crisis at the opposite end of the Sudan) nearly led to war, and imperial force of African soldiers with British officers, the West African frontier force was raised in 1897 and placed under the command of Frederick Luggard. For a time the situation was critical, but the dispute was finally settled without fighting.
These international difficulties and the complaint of the Brass people against the Royal Niger Company led to the revocation of the company’s charter, the British Government assuming direct control of the company’s territories on January 1, 1900. The land in the Niger Delta and along the lower reaches of the river, which had been included in the company’s territories was added to the Niger coast protectorate which was renamed Southern Nigeria. On May 1, 1906 the Lagos territories were amalgamated with Southern Nigeria, the whole country being styled the colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria, with Lagos as the seat of Government.
The northern part of the company’s territories became the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, with Luggard serving as the first High Commissioner. The Fulani and Kanuri still retained their independence, and slave trade continued, but the principal slave raiders, the emirs of Kontogora, Nupe and Adamawa were removed from office in 1901, and Bauchi and Bornu were brought under control the following year. The Sultan of Sokoto refused friendly overtunes, and a small garrison was stationed at Zaria. When the emir of Kano threatened to attack this garrison and also refused to surrender the murderer of a British official, a force of 700 African soldiers with British officers advanced against the mud-walled city of Kano which was taken on February 1903. There was subsequently severe fighting against the main Kano army and the army of the Sultan of Sokoto who fled before the battle. Sokoto was then occupied, and the chiefs nominated new Sultan, approved by the High Commissioner.
In the administration of Northern Nigeria, Luggard used the indigenous authorities, the emirs and other chiefs, in what became known as indirect rule. The African administration had their own treasures and received a proportion of the tax.
9. The Amalgamation of Nigeria
Luggard ceased to be High Commissioner in 1906 but returned to Nigeria in 1912 as governor of both Northern and Southern Nigeria, charged with the duty of amalgamating the two territories. The amalgamation was effected on January 1, 1914 the whole country being known thereafter as the colony and protectorate of Nigeria,
Seven months later, in August 1914, World War broke out, and Nigerian forces were soon in action against German troops in Kamerun (now known as the Federal Republic of Cameroon). A combined Franco-British invasion of Kamerun resulted in the conquest of the country by the beginning of 1916. In 1922 a small part of the territory was mandated by the League of Nations to the United Kingdom and was attached for purposes of administration of Nigeria. (The mandate was placed in 1947 by a trusteeship agreement with the United Nations). Before the end of the war, Nigerian soldiers had also taken part in the fighting in East Africa. In World War II, Nigerian troops served in East Africa against the Italian, and in Buma against the Japanese.
10. Constitutional Changes
Following the amalgamation of 1914 and particularly after the end of World War II a number of territorial and constitutional changes took place in Nigeria. In 1914 the country was divided into three main areas, namely the colony of Nigeria (corresponding to the former colony of Lagos) and two groups of provinces in the protectorate, the Northern and Southern Provinces. The southern provinces were later divided into two groups, Eastern and Western. In 1951 these were officially renamed the Northern, Eastern and Western regions.
In 1914 a legislative council for the colony alone had been set up affairs of the protectorates being beyond its preview. In 1923 a large legislative council was established which for the first time included a limited number of elected numbers.
A radical change was made in the constitution in 1947. House of Assembly for the three groups of provinces were set up with a majority of non officials over ex officio members, and there was also a house of chief for the Northern provinces. In addition there was a central legislative council for the whole of Nigeria.
Public opinion was still not satisfied, and a quasi-federal constitution, introduced in 1951 provided for a central legislative house of representatives. Resulting friction between central and regional legislatures caused the introduction of yet another constitution (the third in eight years) in 1954. This set up the Federation of Nigeria comprising the Northern, Eastern and Western regions, the Southern Camerouns (part of the trust territories) and Federal territory of Lagos. A fourth region was established in 1963 by separation of certain non-Yoruba areas from the western region.
The British government then granted independence in the Nigerian federation on October 1st 1960. The first Prime Minister was Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa balewa, while the ceremonial president was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Finally, in conclusion presently May 2017, the affairs of the nation is co-ordinated by Vice President Professor Yemi Osibanjo on the instruction by the executive President Muhammadu Buhari who was on leave of absent on health ground in London (UK).
Baba Ali Mustapha is with the department of planning and research, Ministry of Environment, Maiduguri, Borno State.
Reference:
For more knowledge on History, politics, economic and great personalities of Nigeria look for the book, ‘NIGERIA-AN ANATOMY OF DEVELOPMENT AND RETROGRESSION by Dr. M.I. Ijiomah (a development economic specialist) of Abia State University published by Smart link Publishers, 27 Ochi street Achara Layout, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.
No comments