3. - usaid

Political and Tribal Wvalry
TNs federal system was based upon a compromise among political p;roups of
long-standing rivalry and regional and tribal differences. The large,
tight ly-disciplined northern party dominated the federal parll ament ( and
govemnt) in alliance with one of the smaller southem-based parties.
Shifts in political alliances, protests against electoral trickery, and
charges of regional corruption led to increasing dissension in 1964 and
1965, coups and massacres in 1966, and civil war in 1967.
From the beginning, the complexity of Nipprian politics was compounded by
the positions of the minority tribal elements vithin the regions-principally
the Ibibios and Efiks (about 3.5 million) and I,jaws (about 1 million) in the
East and Mid-West and the Rvs (about 1.5 million), Kanuri (about 2.5 million)
and other minority elements in the North. These minority elements
resisted the efforts of the regionally based parties to try to dominate
their regions. Thus, during the early periods of independence the Ibibios,
Efiks and Ijaws of the East tended not to support the Ibo-based party in
that reqion but rather to side with the Western-based Action Group. A
similar situation pertained to the Middle Belt nopulations of the North.
The Ibos traditionally had a politically decentralized and egalitarian
society. They are an appssive and industrious people with a hi& reaard
for individual ability. The European ctllture! had a very stronp; influence
on them as did the Christian missionary presence. kior to Nigerian independence,
Iboland had 300 hi@ schools and over a million children in
granmnar school--more than any other tribal mup in Nigeria. The Ibos had
many lawyers, doctors, engineers, and other professional people among them
and held a disproportionate share of jobs in the civil service, public
utilities, and in comnerce. Unfortunately, the Ibos gained the enmity of
many grows in Nigeria.
Ikspite these centrif'uqal tendencies, the urye to surmount re~ional interests
and to construct a national consensus persisted for five years. The shaky
truce among the tribes collapsed in January of 1906 when a coup led by a
small pup of military officers--mostl.y 'Ibos-assassinated Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Mlister of Niceria as well as the Premiers of
Western anc Northern Nigeria.
The Ibo rebels had their own reasons for acting as they did--dissatisfaction
with the pace of modernization; widesoread corruption; and exclusion of
important elements of the population from participation in the decision
process. But even at tMs ooint, eleme~ts in the any, Including
Ibos, reco,qized that events had been carried too far mu that the country
could be torn apart unless corrective actlcn were taken at once. They
stepped in to reassert 1ep;alit.r ard to try to redress the dmye that had
been done to the national fabric. The army chief of staff, General Ironsi,
an Ibo, became head of state, and military governors were appointed to
each.of the Regions. However, the new Government was not strow enough to
punish the leaders of the original coup despite strollg demands to that
effect from the North. Nor was it strong enough to prevent venqeful