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Nigeria: Just in Time

2 minute read
TIME

As abruptly as it began, Nigeria’s political crisis faded away last week. In five days of talks at the presidential palace in Lagos, political leaders from the East and West argued bitterly over the election that returned Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s Northern-based alliance to power—and led the East to threaten secession. But tempers cooled. The regional leaders recognized that the alternatives to compromise were chaos and the destruction of Africa’s most populous country.

With scarcely any advance notice, President Nnamdi (“Zik”) Azikiwe himself went on the radio to allay the nation’s fears. “My fellow countrymen and women,” he began, “I would like to acquaint you tonight of steps which have been taken to avert the crisis.”

Credit was due both to Zik, the Easterner and Christian, and to Sir Abubakar, the Moslem from the North, for a level of statesmanship seldom found in nations hardly accustomed to peaceful resolution of such weighty matters.

In the Northern Region, the election results would stand, but in the East and West, where a widespread boycott had made voting impossible in many districts, a new election date would soon be set. Meantime, Sir Abubakar would remain as Prime Minister of a “broadly based” federal government. His new Cabinet turned out to be al most exactly the same as the old one—heavily dominated by the North. But, for the time being, most Nigerians were too busy celebrating their escape as a nation to care.

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