CO 583/292/5, no 28 28 April 1948
[NCNC Kaduna convention]: memorandum by J O Field1 on the NCNC
Convention in Kaduna and the Freedom Charter (Lagos Secretariat)
The announcement that the N.C.N.C. (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons)[1] proposed to hold a Convention, followed by a National Assembly, was made by Azikiwe shortly after his return from the United Kingdom. It was hailed as a masterly example of Azikiwe's statesmanship by all his supporters, but as a matter of fact it was not Azikiwe's idea at all. (Still cut: Explanatory notes from Den of Lions Vol 1. By Ntemfac Nchwete Ofege)
After the Pan-Nigeria Delegation had had their (to them) unsatisfactory interview with the Secretary of State, Creech Jones. George Padmore[2] sent them a letter in which, after urging them not to lose heart, he gave them the following advice:—
'The first thing you should do on your return to Nigeria is to convene a popular rally at which you should give a full report about your mission to Britain. Similar meetings should be held in different parts of the country. . . .
'Following these mass meetings, the Executive Committee of the N.C.N.C. should convene a National Convention, to which should be invited not only delegates from the organizations affiliated to the N.C.N.C. but also from those bodies still outside the fold. The purpose of the Convention should be to ratify your draft constitution submitted to Creech Jones as the provisional Constitution of the Commonwealth of Nigeria and the Cameroons. . . .
'Having moved from the defensive to the offensive the N.C.N.C. will be able to pose to the entire country a positive alternative programme to the Richards Constitution on the one hand and the British Government's bureaucratic 10- year plan on the other. . . . In opening this new chapter, you must seize the initiative and you can only do this by forgetting the Richards Constitution and putting before the nation a Constitution which expresses the needs and aspirations of the people, and call upon them to make this their Charter of Freedom'.
This extract is quoted at length for it will be seen that Zik adhered very closely to this advice.
The Annual Convention met at Kaduna on the 5th–6th April. Forty-eight delegates attended representing thirty-seven of the one hundred and eighty odd bodies claimed by Zik to be affiliated to the N.C.N.C. Of these thirty-seven, twenty were bodies in the Eastern Provinces, seven were Northern Provinces branches of Southern Provinces (predominantly Ibo) organizations, four were Western Provinces bodies, one was a Northern Provinces body (the Tiv Progressive Union) and the remainder were miscellaneous organizations such as Zik's Athletic Club, the Kaduna Plot Owners' Union, and the Nigeria Legion. The Accra branch of the N.C.N.C. also sent a delegate.
Of the forty-eight delegates, twenty-six were Ibos, ten Yoruba, three Ibibio, one Ijaw, one Uhrobo, one Bini, one native of the Cameroons and one Tiv. The tribes of the other four are unknown. It is noteworthy that the Northern Elements Progressive Union was not represented, nor apparently were any of the prominent Northern Zikists (such as Mallam Abdullah, President of the Zikist Movement)[3] present at the Convention, though they later attended the Assembly.
The most noteworthy absentees, however, were Adedoyin (General Secretary, N.C.N.C.) and Dr. Nimbe (Treasurer). The excuse they gave to their friends in Lagos was that they had attended so many delegations and political gatherings of late that their practices were beginning to suffer, though it is well known that their real reason was that they are no longer on speaking terms with Zik. Dipcherima was also absent, though he sent a message to say that he still sympathised with the N.C.N.C. but had once given up his job for the cause and was not prepared to do it again unless they made it worth his while. P.M. Kale did not attend and gave no reason for his absence. In fact, the only members of the Pan-Nigeria Delegation who were present were Zik, Mrs. Ransome-Kuti (who came for one day) and Nyong Essien. For the rest, the delegates were nonentities.
The proceedings opened with a Presidential Address by Zik. After surveying in broad detail the aims and objects of the N.C.N.C. , the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons, and the extent to which they have been achieved, he launched an attack on his enemies, who he classified as 'Negativists' and 'Nihilists' but for whose machinations even greater successes would have been achieved. The 'Negativists' are those who believe that the people of Nigeria are not yet ripe for self-government, i.e. the moderate politicians. The Nihilists are those who believe that 'nothing good can be done in this country unless it is done by them, therefore their task is to stultify the national will by obstructionist tactics'. (It is not clear to whom this refers, but it may be the Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the Nigerian Youth Movement, both of which have set themselves up in opposition to the N.C.N.C.) The 'Positivists', on the other hand, are all good men and true who support the N.C.N.C. Turning to the Delegation to the U.K., he described the Secretary of State's reply as an insult to the intelligence of the people of Nigeria and continued 'Mr. Arthur Creech Jones has told us bluntly that so far as the British Government is concerned, we are at liberty to do our worst'. He then went on to explain that the assistance of U.N.O. would be essential in the struggle for independence, adding:—
'I wish to make it clear that so far as I am concerned we must not expect national emancipation by relying on Great Britain to honour treaty obligations in the light of her own conscience. As a Colonial Power, he would be a simpleton who believes that Great Britain would grant us our independence without a struggle'.
Then followed an attack on the new Constitution, which his experience in Legislative Council had convinced him was but a device whereby the Government could 'divide and rule' and foster the evil of what he called Pakistanism. 'After attending the Budget Session of legislative Council', he said, 'I have come to the conclusion that it is embarrassing to co-operate in the working of the Richards Constitution', and he expressed the hope that the Convention would decide whether it was worth while continuing to co-operate. Then he turned to his own draft constitution which followed roughly his previous outline but with the significant difference that no longer was provision made for a transitional period or for the appointment of a Governor by the Colonial Office: instead power was to be vested directly in a President elected at an annual convention of the N.C.N.C. who would be assisted by cabinet ministers chosen by himself. All this, however, led up to the real point of his speech—a clear declaration of the intention to sever the British connection and to obtain independence, if need be by violence.
This part of the speech is worth recording:—
'One distinguishing element between the N.C.N.C. (National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons) and other organizations is our readiness to graduate from the "talking stage" to that of "positive action".
In years gone by I believed staunchly in Great Britain and in her ability to
set us free without fuss. Even when I was in the United Kingdom with the
N.C.N.C. delegation I had to debate within myself whether Great Britain will
make self-government possible within the fifteen years I have been advocating
since 1943. . . .
In reading through one of Barere's speeches during the French Revolution
I ran across the following: "The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the
blood of tyrants". In view of what has happened in the history of many
countries, it saddens my heart to think of obtaining the independence of our
country in this inhuman way.
In truth, my faith in Great Britain has waned and I am compelled to admit
openly my belief that freedom for Nigeria and the Cameroons can no longer
be expected to descend to us easily without tremendous sacrifice. . . . If we
mean to liberate our country we must reckon with these realities and cease
from living in a fool's paradise.
I have doubted the wisdom of these thoughts in the past, I have waited for
one positive act on the part of those who govern to prove me wrong; and now
I am free for I am no longer wishful in my thinking. . . .'
and he ended up with an exhortation to 'our youths, our wage-earners, our world war veterans, our patriots and our peasantry' to stand firm in the approaching struggle and see it through.
136 CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND POST-WAR REFORMS [45]
[1] The British also divided (July 20, 1922) the territory along the by the Benue valley as per Article 9, to create the Southern British Cameroons and the Northern British Cameroons. The British Cameroons – Southern British Cameroons and Northern British Cameroons - collectively known as the "Cameroons" were never part of "French Cameroun or "le Cameroun" or "l'etat du Cameroun" or "la republique du Cameroun "from its creation in 1916 and throughout the League of Nations mandate and then the United Nations trusteeship period. Consequently, natives of The Cameroons are Cameroonians in apposition to Camerouneses or French Camerounians.
[2] George Padmore (Malcolm Nurse), Trinidadian political activist and writer, member of the Communist party of the USA; later personal adviser to Kwame Nkrumah.
[3] Habib Raji Abdallah, founder member of the Northern Elements Progressive Association, 1946; Zikist activist; president of the Zikist Movement, 1947; tried and imprisoned for sedition, 1948–1949; sentenced to two years goal.
Aaron,
I agree with your considered opinion. There are other compelling reasons why this charade could not be considered as a valid expression of popular franchise. First it was conducted under a state of emergency that was extended to the Southern Cameroon progressively from 1963 to 1966. Ahidjo took advantage of the abduction and assassination of Ernest Ouandie and others from 1971 to suspend civil liberties and intensify emergency rule. He assumed absolute power and ruled by decree and ordinances. There was only one Southern Cameroonian in the purported referendum Commission, Chief H N Elangwe. There was no valid Southern Cameroons representation in the charade. Finally, the people were denied a right to freely participate or boycott the charade. To enforce participation, citizens were constrained to present their voting cards to security operatives deployed over the territory. Roadblocks were erected and Cale Cales were organised in particular in the Southern Cameroons to collectively subdue,humiliate and dehumanise the citizenry.People could only travel by passes so-called laisser-passer. A purported referendum organised under these circumstances must be a nullity and of no legal effect whatsoever.
Chief C.TakuSent from my Wiko RAINBOW 4G
On 7 May 2016 10:57, Nyangkwe Agien Aaron <nyangkweagien@gmail.com> wrote:ANI will like some one on this forum or elsewhere to tell me when any of the parties or say the KNDP held an a conress to desolve the party.I once overhead a certain Professeur Agrégé Abwa hollering over CRTV that "in 1972 all Political parties even tose of anglophone extraction had desolved to merge into the CNU". That is a puported historian who failed to look at certain histocal facts before making some conclusions. Take for example the KNDP party in which my late Dad militated. Article 48 of its status states that "disolution of the party can onlt be decided at an extra-ordinary congress. The decision to desolve the party will be by simple majority vote of congress members"It was Ahidjo's scheme to begin the recolonisatiion process of Southern Cameroon. That is what " the 1972 plebiscite" iis all aboutTimThe whole charade was about YES and OUI. It was not about people given an opportunity to make a choice.On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 7:44 PM, Joseph Arrey <jarrey82@gmail.com> wrote:Mr mbeseha I remember vividly that day. Mr nguasong Martin may his soul Rest in peace was one of those who protested vehemently for those black paper ballots.
On May 6, 2016 1:28 PM, "Timothy Mbeseha" <mbesehatim@hotmail.com> wrote:I think the whole story of the 1972 plebiscite ballot papers has not been told. As a matter of fact, there were two ballot papers. There was the white ballot paper with the word YES and black ballot paper with the word NO. Generally the black ballot papers were not readily available. Any one who insisted on getting the black ballot paper was threatened with jail time for daring to say NO to Ahidjo. That is a fact. At the time of the plebiscite, we were students in TTC Bonjongo. We asked and continued to insist on getting both the white and black ballot papers. It took the intervention of the Principal (Rev. James Toba) for the election officials to go back to Limbe to look for a few black ballot papers for those of us who were considered dissidents.
Mbeseha
Date: Fri, 6 May 2016 16:28:09 +0100
Subject: Re: [cameroon_politics] Re: CHEI MA MAMMIE EH, BAMENDA PEEPOO HAVE SUFFERED 4 DIS GRUNG
From: nyangkweagien@gmail.com
To: ambasbay@googlegroups.com"What is the hidden significance on this ballot paper?"Southern Cameroonians were wryly made to understand that if you were against Ahidjo's project, you just had to strike OUI not knowing that one was in that position signing his/her dead warrant.To say it more clearly, we were ambushed by the francophones led by Ahidjo with technical assistance from the FrenchBestANOn Fri, May 6, 2016 at 8:18 AM, 'Divine Rhyme' via ambasbay <ambasbay@googlegroups.com> wrote:Hello Julius,I think I am missing something here. What is the hidden significance on this ballot paper that is eluding me so far and what impact does it have with the union with East Cameroon?FEN
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