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The Crisis of Nationhood in Nigeria

Parbati K. SircarView all authors and affiliations
Volume 10, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1177/002088176801000301
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1 We shall use this term in preference to the term " tribe ", which is hardly accurate in the present context.
2 James C. Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif., 1958), p. 42.
3 Eme O. Awa, Federal Government in Nigeria (Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif., 1964), p. 5.
4 D. W. Bittinger, An Educational Experiment in Northern Nigeria in Its Cultural Setting (Philadelphia, Pa, 194I), p. I76.
5 R. L. Buell, The Native Problem in Africa (New York, N.Y., 1928), vol. I, p. 733.
6 E. D. Morel, Nigeria: Its Peoples and Its Problems (London, 19I2).
7 Margery Perham, Native Administration in Nigeria (London, 1937), p. 326.
8 K. Onwuka Dike, Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885 (Oxford, 1956), P 44.
9 T. Olawale Elias, " Makers of Nigerian Law ", West Africa (London), 7 January 1956, p. 7.
10 Cmd 6599 (1945), Proposals for the Revision of the Constitution of Nigeria, passim.
11 Awa, n. 3, p. 22.
12 Ibid., p. 3I. This, however, is not historically accurate, but that is beside the point in this argument. See, for example, Michael Crowder, The Story of Nigeria (London, 1962), pp. 92-93.
13 John P. Mackintosh, ed., Nigerian Government and Politics: Prelude to the Bevolution (Evanston, Ill., 1966), p. 26.
14 UK, House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, series 5, vol. 5I5, session 1952-53, col. 2263.
15 Awa, n. 3, pp. 46-49.
16 Coleman, n. 2, p. 402.
17 Cmd 505(1958), Keport of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Fears of Minorities and the Means of Allaying Them, pp. I-2.
18 Ibid., p. 87.
19 Awa, n. 3, p. 318.
20 K. W. J. Post, " The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, and the Decision of December, 1959 ", in Mackintosh, n. I3, p. 426.
21 Evalyn Aligwekwe, " The Nigerian Political Situation ", International Review of History and Political Science (Meerut), vol. 4, June 1967, p. 106.
22 Government of Nigeria, Federal Printing Office, Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria (Lagos, 1962), 4 vols.
23 Morning Post (Lagos), 10 March 1964.
24 West African Pilot (Lagos), II December 1964.
25 Nnamdi Azikiwe, " Essentials for Nigerian Survival ", Foreign Affairs (New York, N.Y.), vol. 43, April 1965, p. 46I.
26 Henry L. Bretton, Power and Stability in Nigeria: Politics of Decolonization (New York, N.Y., 1962), p. 19.
27 West Africa, 16 October 1965, p. II5I. Writing about the elections, the special correspondent noted that most of the allegations of rigging were against the NNDP, and that most of the allegations of violence were against the UPGA. He further noted that he was convinced that all was " not quite above board ". He said that he had seen Government supporters with ballot papers and that a " pregnant " woman had been found with ballot papers inside her robe.
28 Nigeria's Military Government: First Hundred Days (Lagos, n.d.), p. 3.
29 Ibid., p. 7.
30 Ibid., p. 26.
31 West Africa, II June 1966, p. 647.
32 James O'Connell, " The Scope of the Tragedy ", Africa Report (Washington, D.C.), vol. I3, February 1968, p. 9. The issue contains a useful symposium on the Nigerian crisis.
33 Africa Report, vol. i i, October 1966, p. 53.
34 Cmd 505 (1958), n. I7, p. 1.
35 The Times (London), 19 August 1966.
36 New York Times, 18 August 1966.
37 Africa Report, vol. II, November 1966, p. 39
38 Ibid., vol. I3, February 1968, p. 9.
39 Colin Legiun, " The Tragedy in Nigeria ", ibid., vol. II, November 1966, p. 23.
40 Ibid., vol. I3, February 1968, p. 10.
41 Federal Nigeria (Nigerian Consulate General, New York, N.Y.), vol. i i, August 1967, p. 18.
42 John D. Chick, " Nigeria at War ", Current History (Philadelphia, Pa), vol. 54, February 1968, p. 68.
43 Ibid.
44 New York Times, 18 June 1967, p. 10.
45 Previously Sir Francis Ibiam, but now Dr Ibiam. Ibiam gave up his knighthood in protest against official British antipathy to the Biafran cause.
46 New York Times, 16 July 1968.
47 Ibid., I7 July 1968.
48 Ibid. The original territory of Biafra, 29,000 square miles in extent, has now been reduced to an area of about 9,000 square miles, and the population under Biafran control has shrunk from I3 million to 8 million.

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