2023: Remember the first Republic Debacle - Part 2 | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News
As I was saying last week, some facts of the history of 1964 election can be part of our useful guide to us at this critical time when politicians seem to be concerned only with how to win election without considering the consequences of the 1964 election, which set the tone for the paradise we lost – federalism in 1966. Our politicians are gathering war chest and strategy to rule Nigeria at all cost. They have the resources to plunge into another do-or-die election warfare.
Following this failure to use the armed forces, a compromise was worked out on Sunday, January 3, with a six-point formula for resolving the deadlock.
The most proximate cause of the election crisis was the polarisation of conflict between the two alliances, and especially between the ruling parties of the North and East. No general rule of social action is more graphically demonstrated in this period of Nigerian history than the close connection between the degree of polarisation of conflict and the difficulty of its peaceful, constitutional resolution.