BRIEF HISTORY OF NIGERIA AND IVORY COAST BEFORE INDEPENDENCE.
1.1 Brief history of Nigeria:
Nigeria is the largest country in West Africa located on the Atlantic coast, more precisely on the Gulf of Guinea. It is surrounded by Benin to the west, Nigeria to the north, Chad to the northeast and Cameroon to the east.
1.1.2 The colonization of Nigeria:
In the 19th century, the British were interested in the country to obtain oil, tin and rubber. In 1914, British cartographers united the north and south of the country with a simple stroke of a pencil, in a single territory, under the authority of Governor General Frederick Lugard.
Great Britain adopted a system of indirect administration through traditional chiefs whose power remained intact. To avoid religious conflict the British discouraged Christian missionaries from covering the Muslim North, with the result that schools were almost all built in the south. The army was, however, still dominated by northerners, because the British believed they made better leaders. Throughout the English occupation, the country’s affairs were conducted in English although this language remained ignored by the entire population.
After the First World War and the defeat of Germany, the German colony of Cameroon was divided between France and Germany. Two territories, under mandate of the League of Nations (SDN) were then attached to Nigeria, one was inhabited by a majority of Fulani and was integrated into the North. The other was inhabited mainly by Bamilékés and was integrated to the south. The 1922 constitution established a legislative council in the southern regions and opened the way for direct elections. Three constitutions adopted between 1946 and 1954 gave Nigeria increased autonomy and achieved independence.
1.1.3 The independence of Nigeria:
Nigeria became independent in 1960 and spent almost all of its new existence under the thumb of military dictators who managed to keep the country fragmented with an iron fist, not only between Muslims and Christians, but between more than 1,250 ethnic groups who have always had a deep, often deadly distrust of each other. The civil war that followed, the Biafran War, in 1967, which left a million dead, helped to consolidate the armed forces, whose coups have regularly punctuated political life since. It is the military regimes which have continually increased the number of member states of the federation. Nigeria went from three to four in 1964, then to 12 in 1967, to 19 in 1976, to 21 in 1987 and to 30 in 1990. In that year, local governments increased from 304 to 589. In 1999, the number fell has grown to 36 states.
In fact, the more the military increased the number of states, the more they strengthened military power over the entire country; it was easier to rule over small Nigerian entities than over large entities. If dictators saved Nigeria from disintegration, they also caused its ruin. With its population of 130 million inhabitants, the country should be the giant of Africa. Yet it is one of the poorest nations in the world and is a giant Africa.
1.2 Brief History of Côte d’Ivoire
Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa and it suffers from a false image, that of a space only recently occupied by man; it would have no other originality than being a late receptacle of immigrant peoples from Mali and Burkina Faso to the North, Guinea and Liberia to the West, Ghana to the East.
1.2.2 The Colonization of Côte d’Ivoire
Archaeological excavations of numerous objects in present-day Ivory Coast reveal that the territory has been inhabited since prehistoric times. However, its demographic configuration indicates the influence of migration on the Mandingo population settling at the edge of the forest in regions producing gold and black cola. The Portuguese navigators, the first of the Europeans to anchor on these ravages, reached the coast from where they organized the Negritude slave trade and the ivory trade.
The Portuguese gave several cities and rivers the names we know them today. “SanPedro” river recognized on St. Peter’s Day, “Santo Andrea” reached St. Andrew’s Day and became later. “Sassandra” Rio Fresco” “Rio de Laguos” which later became Lahou etc. we also have names for certain portions of coastline; the coast of Malaguette, the coast of teeth “or later” the Ivory Coast” “the coast of evil people”, the coast of Ouaqua, the coast of gold”.
The ancestors of the inhabitants of the territory have been traced and located in various groups, some have inhabited the same place for several years, the three major groups are the Krus peoples, the Kuo peoples. Kuas and Akan peoples. The Krus are known for their skill in navigation, the Kua-Kuas are sinners although the great migration of the Akan peoples from present-day Ghana, the Akans, a group close to that of the Ashanti, established themselves under the leadership of Queen Abla Pokou in the center of the country. They carry a conception of power very far from that which prevailed among the people of the forest.
Authority is more restricted while the Akan kingdoms are extremely culturalized, the king diverts a sacred authority, from an abolition.
In the 18th century, the Senufos who inhabited the north of the Ivory Coast became prey to the slave trade following their ability to form a centralized state. To the north east there are Konlangos of Bouna (Dagomba) the one who formed the power states and conquered the cohron invaded the gold extract of lobe also the Dioulas, great traders of the city. State of Kong led by Sekou Ouattara based his prosperity on the slave trade, dominated the Ivory Coast region and attacked traders who transported gold and cola from the forest in the south to the Sudan market.
In 1885 the French took control in the interior of the Ivory Coast.
1.2.3 The independence of the Ivory Coast.
The Ivory Coast thus became an independent state when it assigned in July 1960 the instruments of transfer of competence to the Ivorian authorities. After some procrastination, discussions began, on April 24, 1961, cooperation treaties were signed by the countries of the Council of the Entente, with particular agreements by the Ivory Coast.
The independent State had to adopt a constitution, which was adopted on November 3, 1960. F. Houphouët Boigny was the president of the republic shortly after the constitution constituted a presidential regime, recognized the plurality of parties and opinions, and guaranteed a rigorous separation of powers.
However, in his message of January 15, 1962, F. Houphouët Boigny directly warned young intellectuals of their responsibilities for maintaining and strengthening this unity.
A year later, the tragedy returned from a long journey abroad and after rows of “conspiracy”, the president proceeded with the arrest of various personalities, from January 2, 1963, for conspiracy against the security of the state. The bulk of the arrests took place on January 14. The following year, 1964, the Ivory Coast was still haunted by accusations and arbitrary arrests.