Electioneering in the Bush

In the backwoods of Western Nigeria last week, Yoruba tribesmen gazed unbelievingly at the strange men who tumbled out of the sky to make speeches and hand out toy balloons. Curious Hausa merchants applauded politely, as jabbering loudspeaker trucks moved slowly through the ancient city of Kano. Independence is coming next year to Britain's big West African colony, the most heavily populated country on the continent. And next month, Nigeria (pop. 35.7 million) will choose its first national government.

A national election is a new thing, and millions have never voted before, but it did not take long for Nigerians to get into the spirit of it. When the Eastern Region Premier, Nnamdi ("Zik") Azikiwe invaded Western Region territory to address one group of villagers, his opponents dismantled the bridge across the river, forcing Zik to paddle across by canoe. Zik studied at five different U.S. colleges, while his principal rival, Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Western Region, was educated at London University. Awolowo. campaigning for votes in the Moslem North, had hardly begun to speak at one meeting when a herd of wild cattle charged across the site of the rally, breaking up the speech, as his political enemies guffawed from their safe vantage spot.

Ganging Up. Nigeria is divided into three parts. The Ibo of the East and the Yoruba of the West hate one another and scorn the less advanced Northerners. It is the North, with its huge area and heavy Moslem population, led by the turbaned Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, that is supposed to hold the key to power.

But it is the rabble-rousing Zik who may wind up running the show. Last year he journeyed north to the Sardauna's palace with a proposal to work together to defeat Awolowo. The Sardauna was happy to cooperate, for he bitterly hates Awolowo, who for years has urged that the powers of the northern emirs be reduced and is trying to split off the large non-Moslem "Middle Belt" from the Northern Region and make it a separate state. None of the three regions is likely to get the absolute majority needed to rule all Nigeria by itself, but a Northern-Eastern coalition could make Zik the first federal Prime Minister; the North's Sardauna appears to have his own eyes on the dignified post of Governor General.

Helicopters & Trinkets. Awolowo's Action Group is fighting all out to beat this powerful combine. By far the best organized and disciplined party in the country, its slick politicking is worthy of the U.S. pressagents Awolowo has hired to steer his campaign. He and his aides sail through the back country in helicopters, festoon the towns with modern banners and posters, and hand out books of matches and other election trinkets by the thousands. Two TV stations--the first in black Africa--will carry Awolowo's campaign cries when they start operating early next month.

Awolowo styles himself a "liberal democrat" and favors uncompromising allegiance with the West in foreign policy. Zik swears he is not anti-West (his son is at Harvard), but insists that independent Nigeria should follow a neutral foreign policy, much like that of Kwame Nkrumah in nearby Ghana. Such sophisticated distinctions have little part in the campaigning--Awolowo and Zik prefer to denounce each other as oppressors of the people. It goes over much better.

Whoever wins, the proud swampy capital of Lagos is busy with preparations for the great day of independence. Acres of tin-roofed slums behind the waterfront are being ripped down to make room for neat commercial buildings, and a shining new statue of Queen Elizabeth is in place. Plans are complete for a new set of government buildings, and the new Prime Minister will be able to put up his guests at next year's independence celebrations in the fanciest hotel in West Africa, the Victoria Beach, now going up on an island a few hundred yards from the city center.

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