Theory question 107
Political Parties and Party SystemsSection B (answer two questions only from this section)
Give an account of the development of any one of the following political parties in Nigeria.
(a) The Action Group (AG).
(b) The National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC).
(c) The Northern People's Congress (NPC).
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Any one party.
AG: grew from the cultural group Egbe Omo Oduduwa; formed 1951 under Obafemi Awolowo; based in the Western Region; won the 1951 Western elections and governed the West; programme of free primary education and welfarism (democratic socialism); opposition party in the federal parliament after 1959; split in the 1962 crisis (Akintola formed UPP/NNDP); treason trial of Awolowo; banned by the military in 1966.
NCNC: formed August 1944 by Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe from many unions; first nation-wide party; opposed the Richards Constitution (1946 delegation to London); renamed National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (1960/61) after Southern Cameroons left; governed the East and later the Mid-West; coalition partner of the NPC in the federal government 1959–64; joined UPGA in 1964; banned 1966.
NPC: grew from the cultural Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa; became a party in 1951 under Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto); motto 'One North, One People'; ruled the North; largest party in the federal parliament and led federal governments 1959–66 with Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister; banned 1966.
Origin, leaders, aims, achievements and end of the party.