Ibadan Peoples Party

The Ibadan Peoples Party (IPP) was established on June 15 1951, by a group of eminent Ibadan indigenes who opposed the politics of tribalism and personality, which held sway in the Yorùbá dominated Western Region, Nigeria in the 1950s. Its founding chairman was Chief Augustus Akinloye, and the other founders were; Chief Adegoke Adelabu, Chief Kola Balogun, Chief T.O.S Benson, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya and Chief H.O. Davies. The other leaders of the IPP were: Chief S. A. Akinyemi, Chief S. O. Lanlehin, Chief Moyo Aboderin, Chief Samuel Lana, HRH Chief D. T. Akinbiyi, Chief S. Ajunwon, Chief S. Aderonmu, Chief R. S. Baoku, Chief Akin Allen and Chief Akinniyi Olunloyo.

Ideological status quo

The attempt to systematically introduce tribal and sectionalist politics in Nigeria started in 1945, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo along with Dr. Oni Akerele, Chief Akintola Williams, Professor Saburi Biobaku, Chief Abiodun Akinrele, Chief Ayo Rosiji and others, established the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà in 1945, in London. The organization’s stated goal was to unite the Yorùbá politically. Some years later, some parochial Yorùbá politicians based in Lagos were getting particularly worried that a large number of the politically active Yorùbá youth, were increasingly being drawn, into the nationalist and communal fold of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) under the leadership of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Thus on March 21 1951, the Ègbe Ọmọ Odùduwà set up a political party called the Action Group; which was to serve as the platform for realizing its elitist primary objective of herding the Yorùbá under one political tent. This was the ideological mindset that was rejected by a lot of the Yorùbá, particularly the Ibadan commoners, which led to the formation of the IPP.

Elections of 1951

When the election into the Western Region House of Assembly was completed in November 1951, the Action Group was surprised it won only 29 out of the 80 seats contested. In fact, the (AG) lost in all the constituencies in Ibadan; the capital city of the Western Region, Nigeria and likewise in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. The AG had expected that as the “party of the Yorùbá it would sweep the elections with ease, at all levels; and in so doing, form the regional government. However, in Ibadan, the IPP won all the six seats up for grabs while in Lagos; the NCNC won all the available five seats. Faced with this set of circumstances, the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà lured twenty victorious candidates on the ticket of the smaller rival parties to join the Action Group; thereby tilting the balance in favor of the party, against its primary opponent; the NCNC. Some of the leaders of the small parties were offered ministerial appointments to join the AG. One of them was Chief Augustus Akinloye who was appointed the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and who reciprocated by persuading four out of his five victorious colleagues in the IPP into joining the AG. The only IPP member who refused to join the AG was Hon Chief Adegoke Adelabu, who, instead, joined the more national NCNC.

Body politic

The Ibadan electorate did not take kindly to the defection of its elected representatives on the platform of IPP to the Action Group. They used the opportunity of the 1954 federal elections and the 1956 regional elections to express their aversion of the Action Group. In the 1954 Federal elections, when both parties went head to head; the NCNC won 22 seats in the House of Representatives of Nigeria while the AG secured 19 seats. In Ibadan, the capital city of the Western Region, the ruling party AG secured just one out of the five federal seats up for grabs. The loathing of the AG by the Ibadan electorate was further demonstrated in the regional elections, which was held on May 26, 1956. Despite the fact that the election was held after the AG had been in power for five years, and had implemented significant social projects, particularly in the area of education; the results for 1956 were: 48 seats won by the AG and 32 seats by the NCNC. However, a closer scrutiny of the actual votes cast revealed that, the margin of victory between the AG and the NCNC was just 39,270 votes. The AG got 623,826 or (48.3%) of total votes, while the NCNC got 584,556 or (45.3%) of the total votes cast. The battle lines had been drawn; the ensuing mayhem and ruthless machinations that encapsulated the Ibadan political scene, degenerated and continued to spiral out of control until 1966, when the military seized control of the government, and banned all political parties in Nigeria.

References

[http://www.ceddert.com/misrepresentation_by_%20others.htm THE MISREPRESENTATION OF NIGERIA BY NIGERIANS AND OTHERS By: Alkasum Abba] .

Some facts and figures were drawn from the book, by Yusufu Bala Usman and Alkasum Abba, entitled; The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: The Facts and the Figures, CEDDERT, Zaria, 2005 reprint.