National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
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National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons | |
---|---|
Chairman | Herbert Macaulay |
Secretary-General | Nnamdi Azikiwe |
Founded | 1944 |
Dissolved | 16 January 1966 |
Headquarters | Lagos |
Ideology | Big tent Nigerian nationalism Social justice |
Political position | Centre |
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, was a Nigerian nationalist[1] political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediately following independence.
Foundation
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons[a] was formed in 1944[2] by Nnamdi Azikiwe and Herbert Macaulay.[3] Herbert Macaulay was its first president, while Azikiwe was its first secretary.[4] The NCNC was made up of a rather long list of
The NCNC was primarily associated with the Igbo.[1]
Pre-independence
The first test of the party came in the 1951 election. The party won majority votes in the Eastern Region of Nigeria's House of Assembly but became the opposition in the western region with Azikiwe as the opposition leader representing Lagos. Although the Action Group (AG) won a plurality of the votes in the election, its prospects were uncertain as the NCNC could have secured a majority if it had been able to persuade the third party, which was an Ibadan community party and which had been viewed by the NCNC as its ally, to support it. This it was not able to achieve, and the AG therefore formed the government amid accusations of carpet-crossing by Azikiwe and his NCNC. This event is still viewed by some historiographers as the beginning of ethnic politics in Nigeria. Azikiwe later on became the Premier of Eastern Region, Nigeria in 1954.
During a national conference in 1954, the party opposed a call to include the right of secession – a stance which was later exploited by the North and the West to deny the East the right to secede in the Nigerian Civil War. It had argued that the country was not a league of forced nations, and it would be ruinous to include such right. The policies of the party, from its inception favored a countenance of determined expression for self-government and nationalism. The major aims of the party taken on subsequent campaigns at home and abroad were as follows.
- The extension of democratic principles and advancement of the interest of the people of Nigeria and Cameroons under British mandate.
- The impartings of political education to the people of Nigeria in order to prepare them for self-government.
- The provision of medium of expression for members of NCNC through which they would endeavor to secure for Nigeria and the Cameroons, political freedom, social equality, religious toleration and economic activity.[2]
Executive members from November 1957 to August 1958 included:[5]
- Nnamdi Azikiwe, National President and President of the Senate (Igbo, Methodist)
- J. O. Fadahunsi, First National Vice-President (Yoruba, Protestant)
- Eyo Ita, First National Deputy President (Ibibio-Efik Man, First Nigerian Professor)
- Raymond Njoku, Second National Vice-President (Igbo, Catholic)
- F. S. McEwen, National Secretary (Sierra Leone Creole of West Indianancestry, Protestant)
- Festus Okotie-Eboh, National Treasurer, Federal Minister of Finance (Warri, Protestant)
- A. K. Blankson, National Auditor (Ghanaian, Protestant)
- Dennis Osadebay, National Legal Adviser (Igbo, Protestant)
- T. O. S. Benson, National Financial Secretary, Federal Minister of Information (Yoruba, Protestant)
Post-independence
After Nigeria's independence, Azikiwe was
Notes
- ^ The name included 'Cameroons' because Cameroon had become an administrative part of Nigeria in 1945. Cameroon had been a colonial territory of Germany. Following the defeat of Germany and its allies in World War II, the United Nations confiscated the territories under the administration of Germany before World War II. These territories were then given to various victor countries to administer them in trust for the UN until they were mature for political independence. They were then called Trust Territories. Cameroon was handed over to Britain and France. There were two Cameroon territories under Britain. When Nigeria was preparing for the 1960 political independence, the people of the British Cameroons were consulted in a plebiscite on whether to go with Nigeria or join up with French Cameroon. Southern British Cameroon opted for unification with French Cameroon while Northern British Cameroon voted to remain with Nigeria. Thus, NCNC became National Council of Nigerian Citizens in 1959.
- ^ S2CID 144014509.
- ^ a b D. I. Ilega, Religion and "Godless" Nationalism in Colonial Nigeria: The Case of the God's Kingdom Society and the NCNC Journal of Religion in Africa > Vol. 18, Fasc. 2 Jun., 1988.
- ISSN 2155-7896.
- ^ O. E. Udofia, Nigerian Political Parties: Their Role in Modernizing the Political System, 1920–1966, Journal of Black Studies Vol. 11, No. 4 (Jun., 1981), pp. 435–447.
- ^ Sklar 2004, p. 518.
References
- Peter C. Lloyd, The Development of Political Parties in Western Nigeria. The American Political Science Review > Vol. 49, No. 3 Sep., 1955.
- Sklar, Richard L. (2004). Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation. Africa World Press. ISBN 978-1-59221-209-5. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- Tekena N. Tamuno, Separatist Agitations in Nigeria since 1914. The Journal of Modern African Studies > Vol. 8, No. 4 Dec., 1970.