ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY AMONGST INDIGENOUS NATIONALITIES AND IN THE ‘NIGERIAN’ SUPRA -NATIONAL STATE, 1884- 1990: A LONGITUDINAL AND COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL STUDY Emmanuel Chinenyengozi Ejiogu, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation co -directed by: Professor Jerald Hage Department of Sociology, and Professor Ted Robert Gurr Department of Government and Politics The ‘Nigerian’ supra -national state was built by British colonialism in West Africa’s Nig er basin. Its supra -national status derives from its multi -national composition. It attracts the attention of scholars who want to account for its continuing poor political performance. Our inquiry into the roots of its continuing poor political perform ance was conducted from the perspectives of Harry Eckstein’s congruence theory and the derivative framework from it that we called the E-G scheme. We found a high degree of social, economic, and political heterogeneity amongst the diverse nationalities that were compelled to constitute it. In the three nationalities — the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa -Fulani—that we sampled, that heterogeneity is evident in their governmental and non-governmental authority patterns. We found that the British formulated and implem ented state building policies that preferentially favored the Hausa - Fulani but not the Igbo, the Yoruba, and others. We found that the British were impressed by the inherent autocratic traits of the Hausa -Fulani, but not the obviously democratic traits of the indigenous Igbo, and Yoruba authority patterns. Thus, while there emerged tremendous resemblances between the authority patterns of the ‘Nigerian’ supra -national state and those of the Hausa -Fulani, there emerged deep -seated disparity between them a nd indigenous Igbo, and Yoruba authority patterns. We established that the resultant state of affairs created and promotes commensurate bases of legitimacy for the authority of the supra -national state only in core Hausa -Fulani society but not in Igbo and Yoruba societies. During colonial rule high political performance in the ‘Nigerian’ supra -national state was region-specific. In spite of the resemblances shared by the authority patterns of the supra -national state and indigenous Hausa -Fulani authority patterns, their common incongruence and inconsonance with the indigenous authority patterns of the Igbo, Yoruba, and others constitute sufficient ground for the continuing poor political performance in the ‘Nigerian’ supra -national state. THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY AMONGST INDIGENOUS NATIONALITIES AND IN THE ‘NIGERIAN’ SUPRA -NATIONAL STATE, 1884-1990: A LONGITUDINAL AND COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL STUDY by Emmanuel Chinenyengozi Ejiogu Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Gradua te School of the University of Maryland at College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2004 Advisory Committee: Professor Jerald Hage, Chair/Advisor Professor Ted Robert Gurr, co -Chair Professor Wil liam Falk Professor Kurt Finsterbusch Professor Bart Landry Associate Professor Joseph Lengermann © Emmanuel Chinenyengozi Ejiogu To my parents Raymond Chila ka, and Rose Ojiakuede Ejiogu, my wife Ngozi, and children Nwama ka and Amanze ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………....v List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………...vi List of Map s……………………………………………………………………………..viii Chapter I: Theoretical Problem and Framework……………………………………1 Theoretical Issues………………………………………………………………..2 The Choice of the Niger Basin as a Case for a Longitudinal Comparative Historical Study…………………………………………………...14 Theoretical Questions and Hypotheses………………………………………….19 Some of the Existing Literature on Political Instability in Post - Colonial States Reviewed in their Theoretical Perspectives…………………….29 Chapter II: Methodology…………………………………………………………….41 Selection of the Nationalities for Describing the Constituent Parts of the ‘Nigerian’ Supra -national State ……………………………………..41 Selection of the Indepen dent Variables …………………………………………46 Tools for Inquiry into Authority Patterns: A Summary of the E-G Scheme…….50 Influence Relations among Superordinates and Subordinates…………………..52 The Bases of Legitimacy Percep ti ons in Social Units…………………………..68 Data and thei r Sources…………………………………………………………..76 Chapter III: The Period Before 1884: The Niger Basin and Its Inhabitants Before Colonial Conquest………………………………………………………81 The Centrality of Geography and Ecology: Geogr aphy, Ecology, Homelands, and Peoples……………………………………………………….88 Measuring Congruence -Consonance of Authority Patterns: Applying the E-G Scheme……………………………………………………..105 The Igbo or Nd’Igbo……………………………………………………………107 The Yoruba……………………………………………………………………..145 Th e Hausa -Fulani……………………………………………………………….179 Authority Patterns in Post -Jihad Hausaland……………………………………192 Chapter Summation…………………………………………………………….208 Chapter IV: Authority Patterns of the Imposed ‘Nigerian’ Supra -National State…………………………………………………………………………….216 The Period 1851-61: The Yoruba Kingdom of Lagos is Declared Crown Colony and Placed Under British Authority……………………………219 The Period of 1861-90: Transformation of Polity and Consolidation of British Authori ty in Lagos……………………………………………………...227 iii 1890-1914: Influence Relations in Lagos Crown Colony Society Are Altered……………………………………………………………………236 The Period 1896-1906: Colonial Authority Patterns are Extended to the Rest of the Niger Basin ………………………………………………………..240 1900-12: The Evolution of Lugardis m in the Upper Niger Basin……………..248 The Period 1914-60: Lugardism and the Transformation of Colonial Authority in the Lower Niger Basin —Igboland and Yorubaland……………………………………………………………………..258 Chapter Summation…………………………………………………………….274 Chapter V: Britis h State Building Strategies in the Niger Basin……………………278 The Indirect Rule Policy………………………………………………………..280 The Amalgamation of January 1, 1914…………………………………………293 Colonial Education Policy in the Niger Basin………………………………….300 Recruitment into Military Forces……………………………………………….314 Chapter Summation…………………………………………………………….324 Chapter VI: The Critique of Existing Discourse and Theories: The Quest for Theoretic al Reconstruction……………………………………..326 Section One: ……………………………………………………………………326 Bringing in the Nationalities and their History…………………………………326 Accommodating the Concept of Supra -national State Within the Statist Paradigm………………………………………………………………...330 Coding Colonial Policies as State Building Measures………………………… 335 Applying the E-G Scheme to an African Case Study………………………… .337 Implications of the E -G Scheme for Theory and Sociological Research……………………………………………………………………….340 Section Two: …………………………………………………………………..345 Hypotheses, Independent Variables, and Findings, and Conclusions…………………………………………………………………….343 Policy Implications…………………………………………………………….382 Appendix 1…………………………………………………………………………….385 Bibliogra phy…………………………………………………………………………..388 Curriculum Vitae………………………………………………………………………417 iv LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Governments in the ‘Ni gerian’ Supra -national State, 1960-1999 4 1.2 Similarities in the Definitions of Incidents that Indicate Political Instability 8 2.1 Inventory of Nationalities in the Niger Basin 45 3.1 Ecology and Scale of Political Organization in the Niger Basin 91 4.1 Incidents that Involved the Use of Armed Forces in Igboland, 1886-1957 243 4.2 Incidents that Involved the Use of Armed Forces in Yorubaland, 1886-1957 244 4.3 Incidents that Involved the Use of Armed Forces in the Upper Niger, 1886-1957 246 5.1 Early Disparity in School Attendance in the Upper and Lower Niger 305 5.2 Beneficiaries of Preferential Education Policy in the Upper Niger 306 5.3 Links of Secondary School Entrants to the Native Administration (NA), 1921-42 in the Upper Niger 306 5.4 Secondary School Entrants in Caliphate Hausaland in the Period 1921-42 by their Father’s Occupation 307 6.1 Output from Census of Incidents of Political Instability, 1861-1903 354 6.2 Output from Census of Incidents of Political Instability, 1904-1913 355 6.3 Output from Census of Incidents of Political Instability, 1914-1959 356 6.4 Output from Census of Incidents of Political Instability, 1960-1990 358 v LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Matrix Table Showing Some of the Details of Five of the Violent Incidents of Politi cal Instability in the Period 1966-90 5 1.2 Factors that Contribute to Political Instability in the ‘Nigerian’ Supra -national State 21 1.3 The Mixed Legacies of Clashing Authority Patterns and those that Found Relatively Common Grounds Between and Am ongst One Another 28 1.4 The Index of Congruence and Consonance Between and Amongst Authority Patterns in Social Units 35 2.1 Inventory of the Political Characteristics of the Three Nationalities 47 2.2 Diagrammatic Representation of the Eckstein -Gurr Directiveness Dimension 53 2.3 Diagrammatic Representation of the Eckstein -Gurr Participation Dimension 58 2.4 Diagrammatic Representation of the Eckstein -Gurr Responsiveness Dimension 63 2.5 Diagrammatic Representation of the Eckstein -Gurr Compliance Dimension 66 2.6 Tabular Representation of the E-G Scheme Showing the Four Dimensions of Influence Relations, the Components and their Applicable Indices 74 2.7 Measure -Scale Representations of the E-G Scheme 75 2.8 Ten of Our Most Important Sources of Secondary Data 80 3.1 The Interactive Impact of Ecological Factors in the Niger Basin 90 3.2 The Relationship Between Population, Migration, and Ecological Zones 97 3.3 The Typical Igbo Authority Patterns 109 3.4 The Ranking Matrix of the Ig