NIGERIA NATION ON TRIAL IN 1960, WHEN NIGERIA WON ITS INDEPENDENCE, IT 
BECAME AT BIRTH THE WORLD'S MOST POPULOUS BLACK STATE AND AFRICA'S 
BIGGEST QUESTION MARK . HELD TOGETHER IN UNEASY FEDERATION, THE COUNTRY 
NUMBERED SOME 250 TRIBES AND LANGUAGES, THREE PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS (MOSLEM, CHRISTIAN, 
ANIMIST), AND THREE BIG, TRADITIONALLY HOSTILE REGIONS : THE FEUDAL, MOSLEM 
NORTH, WHICH CLAIMS HALF THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF NIGERIA ; THE 
EAST, DOMINATED BY THE ASTUTE, INDUSTRIOUS IBO TRIBES ; AND THE 
WEST, RICHEST AND MOST ADVANCED OF ALL THREE, WHOSE YORUBA TRIBESMEN 
ARE NIGERIA'S MOST SOPHISTICATED CITIZENS . AS BIG AS TEXAS AND 
OKLAHOMA COMBINED, WITH SOME 45 MILLION INHABITANTS GIVE OR TAKE 10 
MILLION NIGERIA SEEMED LESS A NATION THAN A CONCATENATION, A HAPHAZARD 
CREATION OF BRITISH COLONISTS WHO RULED IT FOR 60 YEARS AND 
DUBBED IT THE " WHITE MAN'S GRAVE . " NIGERIA HAS 
SURVIVED TO BECOME AFRICA'S MOST CONSPICUOUSLY SUCCESSFUL DEMOCRACY . ITS BIRTH 
PANGS WERE EASED BY A LONG TRADITION OF TRIBAL GOVERNMENT, AND 
BY THE SOLID GOOD SENSE OF MANY AFRICAN LEADERS WHOM THE 
BRITISH GROOMED FOR SELF-RULE NOTABLY ITS FEDERAL PRIME MINISTER, SIR ABUBAKAR 
TAFAWA BALEWA (TIME COVER, DEC . 5, 1960) . THE GREATEST 
SINGLE ASSURANCE OF STABILITY HAS BEEN NIGERIA'S TRIPOD FORM OF GOVERNMENT, 
DESIGNED TO PREVENT ANY ONE REGION FROM DOMINATING THE OTHER TWO 
. THAT SYSTEM IS NOW IN JEOPARDY, AND WITH IT THE 
VERY FUTURE OF NIGERIA AS A DEMOCRACY AND AS A NATION 
. POLITICAL PLAY ? NIGERIA'S COMPLEX CRISIS IS BEING PLAYED OUT 
IN THE SCRUPULOUSLY DECOROUS HIGH COURT IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL OF 
LAGOS . THERE, IN THE COURSE OF A TRIAL THAT HAS 
DRAGGED ON FOR FOUR MONTHS, THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, OBAFEMI 
AWOLOWO, LAST WEEK OPENED HIS OWN DEFENSE AGAINST A GOVERNMENT INDICTMENT 
CHARGING HIM AND 24 OTHER LEADING POLITICIANS WITH CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW 
THE GOVERNMENT . NEARLY ALL THE DEFENDANTS ARE MEMBERS OF AWOLOWO'S 
ACTION GROUP, THE PARTY THAT RULES WESTERN NIGERIA AND REPRESENTS IT 
IN THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT . CHIEF AWOLOWO IS NOT ALONE IN 
BRANDING THE TRIAL A POLITICAL PLAY TO WRECK HIS PARTY AND 
ELIMINATE THE OPPOSITION . THE CRISIS WAS ACTUALLY PRECIPITATED BY AWOLOWO, 
54, A MERCURIAL, LONDON-TRAINED BARRISTER WHO BECAME OPPOSITION LEADER IN LAGOS 
WHEN HIS PARTY LOST THE 1959 FEDERAL ELECTIONS . AWOLOWO THEN 
RANGED HIS PEOPLE FIRMLY AGAINST THE MIDDLE-ROAD COALITION GOVERNMENT, COMPOSED OF 
THE CONSERVATIVE NORTHERN PEOPLE'S CONGRESS (NPC), SUPPORTED BY THE PROUD, PRIMITIVE 
FULANI AND HAUSA TRIBES OF THE NORTH, AND THE PROGRESSIVE NATIONAL 
CONVENTION OF NIGERIAN CITIZENS (NCNC), WHICH IS BASED IN THE EAST 
. SMASHED MACE . CHIEF SAMUEL L . AKINTOLA, WHO BECAME 
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE ACTION GROUP AND WESTERN REGION PREMIER, LAST 
MAY REBELLED AGAINST AWOLOWO'S POLICIES, WAS SACKED AS DEPUTY LEADER AND 
DISMISSED AS THE WEST'S PREMIER (HE WAS LATER REINSTATED BY COURT 
ORDER) . AWOLOWO'S HIGH-HANDED REPRISALS LED TO A CHAIRTHROWING MELEE IN 
THE WESTERN REGION ASSEMBLY AT IBADAN IN WHICH THE CEREMONIAL MACE 
WAS SHATTERED AND THE POLITICIANS SUBDUED WITH TEAR GAS . SEIZING 
THEIR CHANCE TO QUASH THE OPPOSITION, RIVAL PARTY BOSSES IN LAGOS 
PERSUADED THE RELUCTANT SIR ABUBAKAR TO DISPATCH FEDERAL FORCES TO THE 
WEST AND DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY THAT WAS LIFTED ONLY 
AT YEAR'S END . THE GOVERNMENT ALSO INITIATED AN EXHAUSTIVE INVESTIGATION 
OF REGIONAL AND PARTY FINANCES, CHARGED AWOLOWO AND OTHER PARTY CHIEFTAINS 
WITH DIVERTING $18 MILLION IN PUBLIC FUNDS . ON TOP OF 
THE CORRUPTION SCANDALS, THE GOVERNMENT LAST NOVEMBER FILED ITS SENSATIONAL INDICTMENT 
ACCUSING AWOLOWO OF SENDING AGENTS TO GHANA FOR PARA-MILITARY TRAINING AS 
TERRORISTS IN A PLOT TO SEIZE POWER IN LAGOS . UNIVERSAL 
DASH . CHIEF AWOLOWO LAST WEEK SCORNFULLY TERMED " ABSOLUTELY UNRELIABLE 
AND INCREDIBLE " THE PROSECUTION'S CHARGES THAT HE HAD CONSPIRED TO 
" LEVY WAR " AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT . " TODAY, " 
HE SAID DEFIANTLY, " I MAY BE LANGUISHING IN PRISON . 
I AM NOT GOING TO DIE THERE . I STILL BELIEVE 
I WILL BE PRIME MINISTER SOME DAY . / AS FOR 
THE CORRUPTION CHARGES, AWOLOWO'S SUPPORTERS ARGUE THAT MALFEASANCE IS NO LESS 
RIFE IN THE OTHER REGIONS . THEY ARE PROBABLY QUITE RIGHT 
. " DASH, " AS NIGERIANS CHEERFULLY CALL THEIR RITUALISTIC SYSTEM 
OF PAYOFFS, IS SO UNIVERSAL THAT MANY TRAFFIC COPS HAVE A 
FIXED BRIBE FOR EVERY VIOLATION (RUNNING A RED LIGHT COSTS 28 
#$ ), AND HOSPITAL NURSES SOMETIMES DEMAND A PENNY FOR BRINGING 
A PATIENT A BEDPAN . MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, WHOSE CADILLACS AND 
MERCEDESES HELP MAKE LAGOS TRAFFIC JAMS AMONG THE WORST IN AFRICA, 
EARN MORE ($17,000 INCLUDING EXPENSES) THAN BRITISH M.P.S, BUT MANY MANAGE 
TO EKE OUT THE COST OF LIVING ON IKOYI ISLAND WITH 
A LITTLE HELP FROM FOREIGN INDUSTRIALISTS AND LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS . " 
NIGERIAN BUSINESSMEN, " SAYS A EUROPEAN BANKER IN LAGOS, " ARE 
THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF CON MEN I'VE EVER SEEN . " 
FOR ALL THEIR SURFACE CYNICISM, NIGERIANS BY CONTRAST WITH MOST THIN-SKINNED 
CITIZENS OF AFRICA'S NEW NATIONS ARE SEARCHINGLY SELF-CRITICAL AND TAKE FIERCE 
PRIDE IN THEIR EXUBERANTLY UNINHIBITED PRESS . YOUNGER POLITICIANS IN ALL 
THE PARTIES ARE INCREASINGLY DISILLUSIONED BY THE FLAGRANT VENALITY OF THEIR 
ELDERS AND THE CHASM THAT DIVIDES LAGOS' DOYENS OF DASH FROM 
THE JOBLESS HORDES WHO HAVE SWARMED INTO ITS FESTERING SLUMS AND 
ALMOST TREBLED THE CITY'S POPULATION (TO 750,000) IN THREE DECADES . 
THE BEST GUARANTEE . MANY YOUNG NIGERIANS DERIDE THE GOVERNMENT'S FAITH 
IN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, AND IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THEY ARE OPENLY IMPATIENT 
WITH THE INCORRUPTIBLE SIR ABUBAKAR'S PRAGMATIC, UNPRETENTIOUS AND RATHER OLD-FASHIONED STYLE 
. AS AFRICA'S MOST POPULOUS NATION, THEY ARGUE, NIGERIA IS THE 
CONTINENT'S LOGICAL LEADER . " WHEN YOU'RE IN ACCRA, " COMPLAINS 
A LAGOS NEWSMAN, " YOU CANNOT HELP FEELING THAT YOU'RE AT 
THE CENTER OF PAN-AFRICAN ACTIVITY . WHY DON'T WE GET REFUGEES 
FROM OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA ? " IF THE ACTION GROUP 
IS DESTROYED BY THE TREASON TRIAL, MANY NIGERIANS BELIEVE, A NEW, 
RADICAL PARTY WILL HAVE TO TAKE ITS PLACE OR ELSE THE 
NATION'S RESTIVE LEFTWINGERS MAY WELL RESORT TO REAL VIOLENCE . MEANWHILE, 
THOUGH PREMIER AKINTOLA HAS ALREADY FORMED A NEW,MODERATE MOVEMENT IN THE 
WEST CALLED THE UNITED PEOPLE'S PARTY, THE VACUUM LEFT BY THE 
ACTION GROUP MAY BE FILLED BY THE NCNC, WHOSE LONGTIME BOSS, 
DR . NNAMDI ( " ZIK " ) AZIKIWE, IS MORE 
OR LESS REMOVED FROM ACTIVE POLITICS IN HIS POST AS NIGERIA'S 
GOVERNOR-GENERAL . BUT AMBITIOUS, FLAMBOYANT ZIK MAKES NO SECRET OF HIS 
AIM TO MAKE NIGERIA A REPUBLIC, IN WHICH NCNC COULD EMERGE 
AS THE DOMINANT NATIONAL PARTY AND ZIK HIMSELF MIGHT WELL BE 
A STRONG PRESIDENT.MANY NIGERIANS, SHOCKED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S SEVEN-MONTH SUSPENSION OF 
CIVIL RIGHTS, NOW FEAR THAT A SINGLE, POWERFUL PARTY MAY BE 
TEMPTED TO IMPOSE THE KIND OF AUTHORITARIAN RULE THAT HAS BEEN 
RIVETED ON GHANA AND GUINEA . THE GOVERNMENT'S MOST IMMEDIATE CONCERN 
IS THAT THE COUNTRY'S CURRENT SCANDALS WILL MAR ITS REPUTATION FOR 
STABILITY AND SCARE AWAY THE FOREIGN INVESTORS ON WHOM IT IS 
COUNTING FOR AT LEAST 50 PER CENT OF THE FINANCING FOR 
THE $1.9 BILLION, SIX-YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN IT LAUNCHED LAST YEAR . 
TO SIR ABUBAKAR, THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS THIS WILL ENSURE 
IS THE BEST GUARANTEE OF MEANINGFUL NATIONHOOD FOR NIGERIA . 