The Royal Niger company was a merchant company
chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century, the had to pay
the sum of £865,000 pounds to take over all the trading areas in what they consolidated
in readiness for the annexation of southern protectorate with the northern protectorate.
In the question of paying the 865,000pounds at that
time, and up till date they are still own the piece of property which they
bought. Nigeria is a business venture as they created it at that time and as it
is, still we have not moved from where we were as of the time they created this
union.
It started during the time when it was the trade of
the era to go to wherever you can and beat the civilization down and take
whatever you can, the British came towards the Lagos colony in 1861, they came
towards the water front and entered into trade treaties and protection treaties
with some of those trading partners in bits and batches.
The 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria was as a result of
a fight between the British and the jihad that invaded the northern Nigeria
from Sokoto over the tussle to conquer and control more territories, the fight
ended when they came together to form an agreement to consolidate the resources
they both control in their regions and share the benefits of owning them
permanently, since then they are both on the same mission to make Nigeria their
own over the heads of the owners of the lands.
The discussion to merge the southern parts with the
northern parts were strictly between the British and the caliphate, which means
that for 15 years that they were working to merge them, attending series of
meetings and exchanges, they were both tiptoeing over the heads of the owners
of the lands. It was kept secret until a German newspaper leaked it in the
first time on the 26th of December 1913.
What they reported as an amalgamation (the coming
together of equals) was actually an annexation. Quoting from the telegram of
the then secretary of the colony Mr Harcourt, the one which Port Harcourt was
names after, in explaining what was about to happen the day before it became
public;
“We
have released northern Nigeria from the leading strings of the treasury, the
promising and well conducted youth is now on an allowance of its own and is
about to effect an alliance with the southern lady of means. I have issued the
special license and Sir Fredrick Lugard will perform the ceremony. May the
union be fruitful and couple constant.
Secretary for the colonies
Lewis Venon Harcourt.”
Boss of Lord Fredrick Lugard referring to the import
and purport of the annexation of the then protectorate of southern Nigeria to
the protectorate of the northern Nigeria.
The so-called amalgamation was a ploy of the British
to get hold of the resources of the southern colonies, since they met serious resistance
from the southerners, so they annexed the southern protectorate with the northern
protectorate. When Shell Oil Company was head quartered in Owerri, Imo state in
1918 when Owerri was still a provincial capital, they acquired a massive land
of about 35 square km to build their Shell camp facility in Owerri. They head quartered
there for 42 years until they moved to Port Harcourt because the Igbos fought
them. They moved to Port Harcourt in 1960 under the pretense of being harassed and
created a story that they were dealing with some unscrupulous tribe which they
could not properly describe, they just wanted to create a wholly condition
around that discussion because they were not allowed to operate fully under
that condition.
The whole fight to gain independence in the 1960 was
done only by the southerners when they continued to resist the reigns of their
colonial masters, none of the northerners made any attempt to fight them. People
who participated in the fight for independence for instance; Enohoro, Ugo
Okoye, Obafemi Awolowo, Osita Aguna etc, they were all from the south.
When the British then decided to grant them
independence, they decided that the situation of the southerners would be worst
that when they got here, so they packaged a bogus thing that they termed “Independence”.
Before the independence, they conducted a census and noted that the north
occupied only 17% of Nigeria’s population as of then, the British then crafted
a political structure to make the north a permanent majority in all the
political decisions to be made in Nigeria for the sole purpose of governing Nigeria
through the northerners and collecting whatever resources they want to collect
from the south without dealing with the trouble makers of the south, and they
have had it for a hundred years plus and we are still here swearing to defend
and uphold the constitution of Nigeria that they imposed that made us slaves.
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