Nigeria held its first round of parliamentary elections on December 12, 1959. Despite garnering more votes than the National Council of Nigeria, the Cameroons, and the Action Group, the Northern People’s Congress emerged victorious, securing 134 of the 312 seats in the House of Representatives. The involvement of prominent regional politicians, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the former premiers of the Eastern and Western regions, respectively, was one important factor in the 1959 election. The possibility that any of them would become Nigeria’s “first prime minister” after independence drew them to the election. Sir Ahmadu Bello, the other member of Nigeria’s historical trio, favored staying in his role as the Northern Region’s premier. At the federal level of government, their political party was led by his “able lieutenant,” Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Tafawa Balewa possessed the unique distinction of being the sole prime minister in Nigerian history, having assumed the role in 1957. In January 1966, the parliamentary system came to an end permanently, and the presidential option took its place. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe faced significant obstacles in their pursuit of political party support during a period when such support was mostly based on ethnic or regional allegiances. At the expense of the Southern, Eastern, and Western regions, the North was granted 50% electoral representation. Notably, Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) and Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroon (NCNC) were fierce rivals in the South and relied on coalitions with smaller northern political parties like the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and the Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU), respectively. The Northern People’s Congress (NPC), led by Sir Ahmadu Bello, was the ethnocentric party that dominated the North. Due to Nigeria’s unique circumstances, political parties were forced to join a coalition of convenience because none of them was realistically positioned to form the government. Notwithstanding Chief Awolowo’s readiness to yield the prime ministership to his more senior opponent, Dr. Azikiwe, the AG and NCNC discussed forming the government with the backing of their northern allies, but this did not come to pass. If the proposed agreement between the NCNC and AG was implemented, Sir Ahmadu Bello threatened to remove the North from the federation. But given the fierce antagonism between the two main parties, a coalition government would have been extremely powerful! The NPC and NCNC/NEPU alliance ultimately formed a partnership of mutual convenience. In the North, the extreme party opposing the NPC’s conservatism was known as the NEPU. The opposition was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and consisted mostly of the AG and the UMBC, the latter of which advocated for the creation of a Middle-Best zone outside from the North. Because of the customary intolerance for rivalry and opposing viewpoints, criticism from Awolowo and…
