Chapter 659 – The Father of the Nigerian Nation

“Alright gentlemen, time to do our business, at her age, she must have a husband.” Alan Wilson clapped his hands at his aides to draw their attention back, now that he had been delivered to the place, it was time to get down to business.

Joan Bennett did have a husband, Allen Wilson intended to let people’s husbands age well. There is no excessive requirements, as for this time to come to Africa together, completely out of mutual help between friends, never other intentions.

Nigeria colony, belonging to British West Africa, British West Africa also includes Sierra Leone, Togo and part of Cameroon, as well as the British Gold Coast. In terms of area, however, British West Africa cannot be compared to British East Africa. Nigeria alone occupied the vast majority of the area.

Britain’s traditional strategy for colonies was amalgamation, not partition. Nigeria naturally came out of amalgamation! Even the process was not over. Usually Britain merged small neighboring colonies into the largest before independence.

Only British India, because it was too big and the pacifists really didn’t want to be in the middle of a country with the Hindus. It was only eventually partitioned. Most of the border conflicts in the British colonies had nothing to do with Britain itself. In fact the colonies that Britain ruled were all larger than they were before they were colonized.

But the thing about colonization is that the good things done are not remembered and the bad things are included in the diary. Take Indonesia, where a regime that had long ruled Java wanted the whole of the Dutch East Indies.

And Vietnam wants the French colonies together with Laos and Cambodia, the colonial legacy wants to receive all, the colonial responsibility is all returned to the suzerain state, how can there be such a good thing.

Since British India, the two main sects had to be separated, Britain finally at the end of the colonial era, to experience the joy of partition, with Alan Wilson vigorously publicize the benefits of partition, London also began to think that the former move to merge the colonies, in some cases does not seem to be entirely correct.

The situation in Nigeria was more complicated, and if the local Nigerian elite, could settle down for a few years to give Britain time not to make trouble, Alan Wilson did not want to split up the colony.

The fundamental reason is that Nigeria is surrounded by French West Africa and French Central Africa, all surrounded by French colonies. Once Nigeria was split up, it became a separate small country and could not play the important role of isolating the two large French colonies.

This role, like the entire Pacifist world that stretches from North Africa to Southeast Asia, which happens to need India in the middle to isolate it, would be better for everyone if it became two disconnected parts.

The basic situation in British Nigeria is that it is a colony of two major religions and three ethnic groups. The Christians and the Pacifists were evenly matched, with the Pacifists having a slight advantage.

Of the three main ethnic groups, one is overwhelmingly Pacifist, one is overwhelmingly Christian, and the other is half and half.

Arriving at the Lagos Administrative Office, and looking at the ceiling fan overhead, which was almost identical to the one in the Viceroy’s residence in British India, Alan Wilson was very nostalgic, the product of the same contemporaries and the same batch.

“Ingram, it’s been a few months again. Missed me yet!” Allen Wilson met the Nigerian Commissioner giving a friendly hug while not hiding his purpose, “The call for autonomy has been received in the homeland, and I have been asked to come over this time to talk about it, and I hope to start a frank exchange with these voices of autonomy, and it doesn’t take too long to delay it, because my tour is not just limited to Nigeria, but to other places as well, and time is not ample.”

“Oh, Alan, aren’t you going back to Kuala Lumpur?” Ingram said with some surprise, “I think you know in your heart how delayed this trip is.”

“Understand it very well, but the overall interest of our overseas civil servants compels me to find out. It’s also fortunate that it’s me who’s coming, Ingram you know that I’m our man.”

Alan Wilson also didn’t treat the Nigerian Commissioner as an outsider and asked directly about the current situation and which part of the country was going independent.

When it comes to independence there must be a leader, usually the most numerous group that wants to drive the British out of power themselves.

But with Ingram’s words, Allen Wilson was somewhat surprised that the one making the call for autonomy was the Igbo, who were relatively the least numerous of the three major ethnic groups and controlled the smallest amount of land.

Through Ingram’s introduction, Allen Wilson has a rough impression of Nigeria, the current Nigeria is divided into generalized four regions, a city is where he is now the city of Lagos, for the colonial capital.

The northern region, the area of Nigeria accounted for more than 70%, more than half of the population, the vast majority of the pacifist, of which the “Hausa-Fulani” is the largest ethnic group. The Hausa were historically highly civilized, with the “Seven Hausa States” and the “Seven Commoner States”, but never formed a united nation, while the Fulani were originally nomadic, as they were the first to wage the Hausa Jihad.

The Jihad first defeated the Hausa aristocracy in all the city-states, eliminated the remnants of the primitive religion among the Hausas, established the Sokoto Caliphate, and then fought against the western colonizers to unify the Hausa states, thus integrating deeply with the Hausas.

The Eastern Zone, located in the southeastern part of the Nigerian colony, in the Niger River Delta region. This region had a hot and humid climate, was swampy, and was socially backward before the British came. But also because of this backwardness, there was no pressure to accept British culture, and the Igbo, the largest ethnic group in the area, learned from Britain on all fronts.

The Western District, dominated by the Yorubas, who were a famously commercial people in Africa, were active in business, and religiously the pacifist Christians were about half and half. The city of Lagos, the capital of Allen Wilson’s colony, is a Yoruba place.

The Yorubas are mostly engaged in commerce, and the native officials of the current colony are predominantly Igbo. So there were quite a few Igbo people in Lagos City as well, and in general that was the general situation in Nigeria.

“It’s quite a surprise, an ethnic group that is small in number and occupies a small area, how are they going to retain their current interests with a bit of independence?” Alan Wilson couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he heard it, “It’s the equivalent of, Ali Jinnah must be independent still wants to rule all of British India.”

This is simply being overwhelmed by the benefits after independence, Allen Wilson can only comment so. In fact, compared to historical heritage, the Hausa-Fulani of the north clearly have the upper hand, and their national cohesion was fought for. Igbo people if not Nigeria was colonized by the British, in the stay for a few hundred years, it belongs to the batch of properly wiped out.

The consequences would have been equivalent to the Hundred Vietnams of China and the Chamchongs of Vietnam, and it would have been good enough to be mentioned in the history books. Where are the days to flaunt their power?

“The Igbo want independence right? I’ll meet the Hausa leaders first.” Alan Wilson said coldly, “It’s better for everyone if we are given a few years to settle down, if that’s not possible, then there’s nothing we can do. If they make us uncomfortable, we’ll let them die.”

Azikiwe was the current Igbo leader who was most looking forward to autonomy, and he knew immediately that the party that arrived in London had arrived, but after two days of delay, Azikiwe inquired, but was told that Alan Wilson was looking for the leaders of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) to negotiate.

It was a predominantly Hausa party, and knowing that the representative from London was looking for the Hausas first, Azikiwe couldn’t sit still.

Offering to come over to meet with Alan Wilson, Azikiwe was born into an Igbo family in the city of Zungeru in northern Nigeria. Like many leaders of colonial independence, he came from a family of elite local officials in the colony.

His father had served in the command of Sir Luigi, Commander of the Union Army and High Commissioner of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.

Alan Wilson, who was also investigating the leader who had been calling for autonomy, also learned that Azikiwe had a strong Pan-African ideology, which was sickening.

Pan-Africanist ideas were spreading widely across the continent. A united African state was to be established in Africa as the motherland of all blacks. The idea of Pan-Africanism had a great influence on the emergence of Azikiwe’s national consciousness.

Though the idea was too idealistic to have almost zero success, and Allen Wilson did not want to meet leaders with similar ideas because such leaders were themselves idealistic, and idealistic opponents are not easy to negotiate with.

But Allen Wilson still met with Azikiwe at the Executive Office, Allen Wilson had always been face-blind to blacks, and wouldn’t assume that the other party had put skill points into the Wisdom attribute just because Azikiwe was wearing a set of eyes.

The meeting was purely out of courtesy, and by the time Azikiwe sat down, Allen Wilson was still flipping through the information prepared by the Executive Office, thinking about what to say to the different native leaders.

“Hello, Mr. Wilson.” Azikiwe held his eyes for a moment to initiate the conversation, “I heard you were the representative sent from London to convey the call for Nigeria’s autonomy, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“My pleasure too!” Alan Wilson similarly extended his hand in a friendly manner, he remembered that Azikiwe was the father of Nigeria’s nation, expressing friendliness, “Mr. Azikiwe, as they say, is a man full of wisdom, I have heard that you have been to the United States to further your education, I think it should not be so much as to learn from the United States, how to oppose the United Kingdom, right?”

Azikiwe stared, then laughed, “How could Commissioner Wilson think that, do you think it is wrong for Nigeria to fight for autonomy.”

“Whether it is Nigeria fighting for autonomy or the Igbos exposing their ambitions is a matter of great interest.” Alan Wilson chuckled, “You should be well aware that in the current colonial government, there is an abnormal proportion of Igbos. It makes me see the trend of inequality, maybe we can balance the proportion of officers according to ethnic distribution.”