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Nigeria's Forgotten Heroes: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Part
2)
14 November 2009
By Max Siollun
Political Calling
Balewa was no firebrand political radical. He may have
remained a teacher for the rest of his life had
southern politicians such as the flamboyant
intellectual Nnamdi Azikiwe not pushed for Nigerian
independence. Although not overtly political he
founded an organisation named the “Bauchi Discussion
Circle” in 1943, and was elected vice president of the
Northern Teacher's Association (the first trade union
in Northern Nigeria) in 1948. Anxious not to be
politically upstaged by the southerners, Northern
leaders sought educated Northerners to serve in
political posts. Balewa helped found the Northern
People's Congress (NPC), which was originally intended
as a cultural organisation but by 1951 morphed into a
political party due to the need to present a Northern
response to the rapid and sophisticated political
groupings emerging in the south. Balewa was called
into political service as the Bauchi Native
Authority's representative to the Northern House of
Assembly. The House of Assembly also selected him to
become a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council.
Despite political involvement, Balewa remained
suspicious of Nigerian unification and feared that the
Northern Region would be dominated by the better
educated and dynamic south. He said that "the southern
tribes who are now pouring into the north in ever
increasing numbers...do not mix with the northern
people in social matters and we...look upon them as
invaders. Since 1914 the British government has been
trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the
Nigerian people themselves are historically different
in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and
customs, and do not show themselves any sign of
willingness to unite. So what it comes to is that
Nigerian unity is only a British intention in the
country."
He later became the federal Minister of Works and in
1954 Minister of Transport and the senior minister and
leader of the NPC in the House of Representatives. His
conversion from regional to federal outlook came after
he visited America in 1955 on a fact finding mission.
He reminisced that "In less than 200 years, this great
country [America] was welded together by people of so
many different backgrounds. They built a mighty nation
and had forgotten where they came from and who their
ancestors were. They had pride in only one thing
—their American citizenship... I am a changed man from
today. Until now I never really believed Nigeria could
be one united country. But if the Americans could do
it, so can we."
Position Without Power?
Even though Balewa was only the deputy leader of the
NPC, the NPC leader the Sardauna of Sokoto sent Balewa
to Lagos to become the federal Prime Minister in 1957.
The Sardauna had no interest in living in the south.
When Nigeria became independent in 1960, he became the
newly independent country's first Prime Minister and
received the instruments of independence from Princess
Alexandria (cousin of Queen Elizabeth II). Although
the country's Prime Minister, he was not the leader of
his own party (the NPC) and thus remained in the
paradoxical position of being a head of government
that had to defer to, and take instructions from his
boss (the Sardauna). In 1963 he gave a spellbinding
eloquent speech at the Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
inaugural conference of the Organisation of African
Unity.
As Prime Minister he maintained a thoroughly dignified
comportment. A British acquaintance called him
"perhaps the perfect Victorian gentleman". He gained
several awards from the British: OBE in 1952, CBE in
1955, Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in January 1960
and was awarded an honorary degree by the University
of Sheffield in May 1960.
Balewa proposed an amendment to Nigeria’s constitution
to give due recognition to the nation building role
played by then Governor-General Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Balewa proposed that “Nnamdi Azikiwe shall be deemed
to have been elected President and Commander in-Chief
of the Armed Forces” because “Nigeria can never
adequately reward Dr. Azikiwe” for the nationalist
role he played in building Nigeria and achieving
independence. Azikiwe is referred to by name in
Nigeria’s 1963 constitution, and to my knowledge
Azikiwe was the only living individual
constitutionally enshrined by name in his democratic
country’s constitution.
Death and Beyond
On January 15, 1966 he was kidnapped from his official
residence by armed soldiers who were executing
Nigeria's first military coup. He was missing for
several days and a search for him was ordered by the
new military regime headed by Major-General
Aguiyi-Ironsi. His family and friends continued to
believe he was alive. Rumours claimed the rebel
soldiers were holding him alive and that he would be
released as part of a prisoner swap involving the
imprisoned Chief Awolowo. However these hopes were
dashed when his decomposing corpse was found a few
days later, dumped in a roadside bush. His corpse was
taken to Ikeja airport in the company of Police
Commissioner Hamman Maiduguri, Inspector-General of
Police Kam Selem, Maitama Sule and his wives Laraba
and Jummai who accompanied it as it was flown to
Bauchi where he was buried. His body now lies inside a
tomb declared a national monument. The tomb includes a
library and a mosque. The famous race course square in
Lagos was renamed "Tafawa Balewa Square" in his
memory. His image appears on the 5 Naira note.
His mother Hajiya Inna died less than a year after
him. He was survived by his four wives Jummai, Umma,
Zainab and Laraba, and 19 children. He married Jummai
(from Sokoto) when she was 13 years old. He also had a
posthumous daughter (Zainab) who was born by Jummai
two weeks after his death. Although all of Balewa's
widows remarried after his death, their subsequent
marriages collapsed and they returned to the Prime
Minister's house in Bauchi to live together. Balewa's
third wife Hajiya Zainab (aka "Hajiya Umma") died
earlier this year at the age of 73.
His two sons in England were comforted and looked
after by their headmaster Trafford Allen with the
support of their guardian J.E.B. Hall, with their
school fees at Epsom College being paid by the
military government of General Gowon. His son at Keffi
Government College did not know of his father's death
until the school caterer broke the news to him. His
children include Mukhtar, Sadiq, Hajia Uwani, Umar,
Ahmed, Haruna, Aminu (a journalist who has since
died), Hafsat, Amina, Zainab, Yalwa, Saude, Hajia
Binta, Yalwa (widowed early and became an organiser of
women's education), Rabi (resisted early marriage in
favour of study), Ali (died aged 9), and Hajia Talle
Aishatu (now deceased).
maxsiollun@yahoo.com
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