Here’s a abstract of what occurred. That is for his or her kids and grandchildren who weren’t there and weren’t taught the historical past of these horrible days.
By Could 1953, southern leaders had been prepared for Nigeria to be an unbiased nation. They had been pushing for a three-year plan that might have granted Nigeria independence in 1956, one yr earlier than Ghana. The one downside was that the leaders of the north felt they weren’t prepared. The north feared that the south would dominate the brand new nation. Consequently, the north argued for a delay. They believed that if given a couple of years, they’d catch up within the variety of northerners who went to highschool and had been certified to take part totally within the working of Nigeria. At the moment, the north didn’t want affirmative actions like catchment areas, federal character, or deprived states, to be at par with the south. To them, these had been symbols and signs of a society that embraced mediocrity. Idan angulu ta biya maka maradi, zabuwa ta tafi da zanenta.

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
That was the temper of the nation when on March 31, 1953, headstrong Anthony Enahoro moved the movement for Britain to grant Nigeria independence by 1956. Enahoro didn’t say it on the pages of the newspaper. He moved the movement within the federal parliament in Lagos. What audacity!
Instantly, the Yoruba and Igbo folks in Motion Group and the Nationwide Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) joined him. All rascals. They had been simply excited like a person who simply bought married and couldn’t look forward to the reception to finish earlier than going to the ‘oza’ room together with his new wife. The leaders of the north, of their knowledge, requested what the frenzy was. They knew {that a} short-term starvation wouldn’t kill an individual.  The honorable gentleman Ahmadu Bello got here up with a superb compromise. He stated that the Enahoro invoice ought to say self-government “as quickly as attainable” and never “within the yr 1956.”

However belief the southern leaders, they put their foot down. They stated it should be 1956 or nothing. Some even sang, “Give us 1956 or give us demise.” It led to all events strolling out of parliament, leaving the British colonial folks within the chilly, scratching their heads.
Speaking of clowns, northern leaders bought insulted by Lagos loutish crowds on the best way house. Northern leaders returned to Kaduna and issued a powerful assertion. It was nothing just like the watered-down statements that Hakeem Baba-Ahmed points today. Of their 1953 assertion from the towers of Lugard Corridor in Kaduna, northern leaders listed eight factors that the southern leaders should meet earlier than their return to Lagos.
The northern leaders had been prepared to depart the nation for all intents and functions. That was a stark distinction to the nonsense menace we get on this period from the likes of Yerima Shettima, whose solely energy is to now give an ultimatum to folks from different elements of the nation to depart northern Nigeria. The true energy lies in taking your self out of disagreeable conditions and never kicking folks out of your quick surroundings. That’s how you understand an actual man.
Anyway, southern ignoramus like Samuel Akintola refused to scent the candy scent of feces. He and different pro-independence ruffians took their marketing campaign for independence to the north. Think about Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Akeredolu in Sokoto campaigning for state police or a proper to construct their very own energy grid for his or her area. Yeah, one thing like that. Discuss taking the ball to the 18-yard field of your opponent who’s already agitated and down on the scoreboard.

That was how the riot of 1953 began.
On Could 15, 1953, supporters of the Northern Folks’s Occasion (NPC) had an indication to inform Akintola and co that they didn’t respect seeing them stand of their entrance and rely their 9 fingers. It was only a quite simple assertion of truth.
The following day, Saturday, Could 16, 1953, Kano Native Authority withdrew the permission initially given to Akintola and his group of rascals to have their assembly at Colonial Lodge, Kano. As a result of the authorities in Kano withdrew their permission, placid mobs had no possibility however to throw stones at Akintola and his fellow traitors within the resort simply to flush them out. Nothing extra. In fact, ruwa bas u tsami banza, water doesn’t turn into bitter and not using a trigger.
As with stuff like this, one factor led to a different and two southerners died. And the imperturbable mobs noticed that it was candy. They moved on to Sabon Gari to flush out different radical sympathizers who had been pretending to be minding their very own enterprise as in the event that they weren’t engaged in WhatsApp conversations with Akintola and his fellow clowns.
By Sunday the seventeenth, it had turn into a full-scale inter-ethnic disaster. Who might have imagined that? The mobs chanted anti-Yoruba songs as they went on a rampage, however quickly they remembered the Igbo and attacked them. The navy was known as as much as assist quell the disaster. By the point it was over, 46 folks, principally southerners, had been useless.
The day after the riot, the British colonial authorities imposed a state of emergency in Northern Nigeria earlier than they regained management of the scenario. The British administrative officers additionally performed a probe. On the finish of the probe, the assertion they issued stated, “No quantity of provocation, short-term or long-term, can in any method justify their habits…the seeds of the difficulty which broke out in Kano on Could 16 [1953] have their counterparts nonetheless within the floor. It might occur once more, and solely a realization and acceptance of the underlying causes can take away the hazard of recurrence.”

Who might have recognized that these British folks have been noisemakers for therefore lengthy? The hazard of recurrence? What crystal ball confirmed them that?
After the riot, the honorable Ahmadu Bello and the northern leaders in NPC issued one other record of calls for. This time, they gave the record as circumstances for them to return to the ineffective Federal Parliament in Lagos. Please, don’t confuse this Lagos Federal Parliament with Ahmed Lawan-led majestic Nationwide Meeting in Abuja right now. One is a bunch of zombies sucking the blood of Nigeria. The opposite one is Enaharo’s parliament.
Within the northern leaders’ calls for had been safeguards that gave autonomy to every area. The negotiation for the unity of Nigeria went so nicely that the honorable Ahmadu Bello was comfy staying within the north because the premier whereas he despatched his protégé, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to Lagos to be the Prime Minister.
These had been the times when the leaders of the north had been silly. They negotiated for Nigeria’s unity and bought regional autonomy for themselves and others. It’s akin to them negotiating right now for a correct federation that would scale back the facility of the middle and permit the geo-political zones to face on their very own. It’s a type of negotiation that may give some zones within the north a work-free day on Fridays and a resumption of the workday on Sundays. In such a negotiation, every zone will construct its personal energy grid, select its personal language of instruction in colleges, and derogatory phrases like federal character and deprived states will likely be discarded as every geo-political zone will determine its future and the tempo at which it desires to get there.
I let you know, these previous leaders of the north believed that mu dai beran rami d’aya, in ba a gama a shiga ba, a gama a fita, we the mice come out of 1 gap, we both meet getting in or we meet going out. That was an previous standard knowledge. They had been squeamish about ignoring the hush-hush however didn’t need to do something to amplify it or flip it right into a clarion name for confrontation. Sissies, they’re – all of these “as quickly as attainable” apostles.
Who does one thing like that when you possibly can management the entire nation and lord it over them so long as attainable?

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Publish-Colonial African Historical past on the College of Visible Arts in New York Metropolis. He’s additionally the host of Dr. Damages Present. His books embrace “This American Life Sef”, and “Youngsters of a Retired God”.