NIGERIA VERDICT IN LAGOS IT WAS SHOCK ENOUGH TO LEARN OF THE 
CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA BY VIOLENCE, FOR NIGERIA 
HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST STABLE OF AFRICA'S NEW NATIONS 
. BUT IT SEEMED ALMOST INCREDIBLE THAT THE RINGLEADER COULD HAVE 
BEEN THE BESPECTACLED CHIEF PRISONER IN THE DOCK OF A LAGOS 
COURTROOM LAST WEEK THE RESPECTED CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO . EDUCATED BY 
PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES AND STILL A NONSMOKING TEETOTALER, AWOLOWO WORKED HIS WAY 
TO A LONDON UNIVERSITY LAW DEGREE, SERVED FIVE YEARS AS THE 
SOLID, EFFICIENT PRIME MINISTER OF HIS NATIVE WESTERN REGION AND HEADED 
NIGERIA'S OPPOSITION PARTY, THE ACTION GROUP . BEFORE INDEPENDENCE IN 1960, 
HE WAS INFLUENTIAL IN DRAWING UP NIGERIA'S CONSTITUTION . WOULD AWOLOWO, 
A MASTERFUL ORGANIZER, REALLY GET MIXED UP IN A HALF-BAKED, AMATEURISH 
PLOT TO WIPE OUT HIS NATION'S TOP LEADERSHIP WITH A HANDFUL 
OF EXPLOSIVES, ARMS, AND REBELS TRAINED IN NEARBY GHANA ? WINKS 
FROM THE DOCK . INDEED HE WOULD AND DID INSISTED NIGERIA'S 
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR IN THE MARATHON, TEN-MONTH TRIAL THAT FILLED 1,400 PAGES 
OF TESTIMONY . WITNESS AFTER WITNESS 53 IN ALL CAME INTO 
COURT TO TESTIFY THAT AWOLOWO PLANNED TO TOPPLE FEDERAL PRIME MINISTER 
SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA LAST SEPT . 21 WITH THE HELP 
OF 200 TRAINED MEN, ON THE EVE OF A STATE VISIT 
BY INDIA'S JAWAHARLAL NEHRU . A GOVERNMENT WITNESS TESTIFIED THAT ON 
AWOLOWO'S INSTRUCTIONS HE HAD CARRIED A CHECK TO PURCHASE ARMS IN 
GHANA . POLICE CLAIMED THAT THEY HAD DUG UP FOUR CARTRIDGES 
HIDDEN IN AWOLOWO'S BACKYARD . ALTHOUGH CONDUCTED WITH GRAVE DECORUM, THE 
TRIAL HAD ITS INTERRUPTIONS . ONE PROSECUTION WITNESS COMPLAINED THAT SOME 
OF THE ACCUSED IN THE DOCK WERE GIVING HIM THE JUJU 
VERSION OF THE EVIL EYE A WINK . AWOLOWO, DENYING ALL 
THE ACCUSATIONS, SAID THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE CASE, 
AND DECLARED THAT SOME OF THE TESTIMONY WAS OBTAINED UNDER DURESS 
. IN A HALF-HOUR CLOSING ORATION, AWOLOWO FRANKLY LAMENTED THAT " 
THE INVALUABLE SERVICES WHICH . . . I CAN STILL RENDER 
WILL BE LOST TO THE COUNTRY . " THE JUDGE, GEORGE 
SOWEMIMO, WHO WAS OPENLY DISTRESSED BY THE ENTIRE PROCEEDING, SAID HE 
HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO CONVICT . IN A NINE-HOUR DECISION 
DELIVERED LAST WEEK, HE GAVE AWOLOWO TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR 
TREASONABLE FELONY, JUST A BIT MILDER THAN THE 15-YEAR PRISON TERM 
METED OUT TO AWOLOWO'S CRONY, POLITICO TONY ENAHORO, A FEW DAYS 
EARLIER . HEADLESS OPPOSITION . WITH THE CONVICTIONS OF AWOLOWO AND 
ENAHORO, THE OPPOSITION ACTION GROUP IS VIRTUALLY DECAPITATED . BUT THE 
PARTY STILL ENJOYS THE LOYAL BACKING OF WESTERN NIGERIA'S PREDOMINANT, ADVANCED 
YORUBA TRIBE . THE CLANNISH YORUBAS WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY REORGANIZE TO 
CHALLENGE THE NORTH AND EAST ONCE MORE . AT WEEK'S END 
MANY A NIGERIAN WAS WONDERING HOW LONG HIS COUNTRY'S DELICATE BALANCE 
OF REGIONAL RIVALRIES, WHICH HAS BEEN THE KEY TO AFRICA'S MOST 
ADMIRED DEMOCRACY, COULD LAST . UNPERTURBED, SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA, A 
MOSLEM FROM THE NORTH, WENT AHEAD WITH PLANS TO CONVERT NIGERIA 
ON OCT . 1 FROM A BRITISH DOMINION TO A REPUBLIC 
WITHIN THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH . SIR ABUBAKAR WILL REMAIN THE REAL 
BOSS . THE CHANGEOVER WILL MERELY INSTALL A CEREMONIAL PRESIDENT AS 
HEAD OF STATE TO REPLACE QUEEN ELIZABETH, WHO IS NOW SOVEREIGN 
. 