by
The open quarrel between Governor Sim Fubara and his former benefactor, Nyesom Wike,Minister of the Federal Capital Administration, is a reminisce of the one between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola in the defunct Western Region of Nigeria that took place in the early 1960s.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (SAN) was the leader of the Action Group,a political party that was founded in the late 1940s.
Chief Awolowo was the leader of the Action Group and was in 1954 elected the Premier of Western Region of Nigeria.
Chief Awolowo was the premier of the Western region from 1954 to 1960.
He was later elected a member of the Nigerian Parliament and became the leader of the opposition.
His ambition was to become the Prime Minister of Nigeria,and he therefore started playing politics to erect structures and networks across the country that would enable his ambition.
On other hand, Chief Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá (S.L.A) was an orator and lawyer.
He served as Oloye Aare Ona Kakanfo XIII of Yorubaland and served as premier of Western Nigeria from independence in 1960 until his assassination in 1966.
He was the deputy leader of the Action Group.
He did not want Western Nigeria to remain in opposition and accordingly sought alliance with the defunct Northern Peoples Congress that in control of the Federal government of Nigeria.
Chief Akintola founded his own party known as Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) which entered into a coalition with the Northern Peoples Congress.
The two approaches adopted by Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola led to a bitter feud which fragmented the Action Group into two irreconcilable factions ,namely Chief Awolowo’s faction and Chief Akintola’s own.
The disagreement between Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola led to the eruption of crisis in the Western Region House of Assembly over a move by Chief Awolowo supporters in the Assembly to remove Chief Akintola from office as Premier of Western Region in 1962.
There was a fight between supporters of these two political gladiators, Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola, on the floor of the Western Region House of Assembly by its members that had fragment into two irreconcilable factions in May 1962.
The mace of the House of Assembly,was broken leading to the intervention of the Police to maintain law and order.
Chief Akintola had accused Chief Awolowo of plotting to toppled his government.
The intervention of the government of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was decisive and swift.
A law was passed in the Nigerian Parliament authorizing the Prime Minister to declare a statement of emergency in the Western Region and dismantling of democratic institutions and governance.
The Federal government appointed the then Federal Minister of Health. Dr. Moses
.A Majekodunmi as the Sole Administrator of the Western Region from 29 June 1962 to December 1962.
Chief Akintola challenged in Court his removal from office as Premier of Western Nigeria and he fought the case from the then Federal Supreme Court of Nigeria to the Privy Council (the Privy Council was the Judicial Commitee of the British House of Lords but was the apex judicial authority for Nigeria).
However, Chief Akintola was restored as the Premier of Western Region of Nigeria in 1963.
The chains of events that took place in the Western Region that emanated from the bitter political feud between Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola was one of the causes of military intervention in Nigerian politics.
On the 15 January 1966 the government of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was toppled in a military coup detat leading to the suspension of the Constitution, the Nigerian Parliament and other democratic institutions.
The military remained in power from 1966 to 1979.
Unfortunately, Chief Akintola was assassinated by the ring leaders of the coup on the 15 January 1966.
What lessons can all those involved in the current imbroglio in Rivers State learn from the bitter feud between Chief Awolowo and Chief Akintola?
@ Okoi Obono-Obla
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Okoi Obono-Obla, and does not represent TheLumineNews, its agent or the organization the author works for
