There has been controversy surrounding the death of Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, also known as the Golden Voice of Africa. One minister in his cabinet asserted that the Prime Minister was not shot but died of asthma. Also, a veteran journalist, who later became a state governor, argued that he did not see any gunshot wound on Balewa and that his body was still fresh and not decomposed at the time it was found five days after his abduction on January 21, 1966.
What we do know is that Balewa was kidnapped from his official residence by Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna during Nigeria’s first military coup and subsequently found dead. The Prime Minister was later buried in Bauchi.
So, we seek to find out. What really killed Tafawa Balewa? What silenced the Golden Voice of Africa?
Political Career: The Golden Voice of Africa
In 1952, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was appointed Minister of Works, and in 1954, the Minister of Transport by Nigeria’s Colonial Governor, Sir James Wilson Robertson. In the same year, he became the senior minister and leader of the NPC in the House of Representatives. In 1957, he was elected Chief Minister, forming a unified government between the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), led by Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Balewa retained his position as Prime Minister when Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Between 1960 and 1963, he doubled as the Foreign Minister. Considered a pro-British conservative and from the Muslim North, the Prime Minister often clashed with Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was at the time, the President of Nigeria.
He was re-elected as Prime Minister in the 1964 elections, a position he held until he died in January 1966.
Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister
In the mid-1950s, the regionalisation of political consciousness had begun to grow in the minds of individuals in the country. A constitutional conference held in 1954 adopted a regional framework for the country, with each region given a sizable amount of political freedom.
The three dominant regions – the West, East, and North – had all opted for self-governance. The General Elections in 1954, 1956, and 1959 only helped to cement this consciousness, as the leading parties of each region, the Action Group (AG) in the West, the NCNC in the East, and the NPC in the North, continued their dominance in their respective regions.
On August 30, 1957, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became Nigeria’s first Prime Minister. He would be the only man to have held the position. His appointment as Prime Minister demonstrated the efforts of the nationalist leaders to forge a truly national government at the time. Balewa was of a humble beginning and came from the minority Bageri tribe in Bauchi.
His administration would, unfortunately, become plagued with regional chaos as each of these regions feared one thing: dominance from another region.
Following the General Elections of 1959, the NPC became the leading political party in the country. The Southerners, therefore, feared that an NPC-led government, representing the interests of the North, would divert resources to the North, leaving the South barren; the Northerners, in turn, feared that a Southern domination led by Awolowo’s AG party and Azikiwe’s NCNC would result in an impoverishment of the North, hence, undermining the development of the region.
These fears led to regional factionalism, which constantly threatened Balewa’s government. However, as Prime Minister, Balewa was instrumental not only in the country’s togetherness and development but also in the continent’s formative indigenous rule.
He strived to develop the transport systems of the country by helping to build ports, river transport systems and railways.
He helped shape the early foreign policy of the country and was central to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the creation of a unifying relationship with the Francophone countries in Africa.
Balewa was pivotal to the success of the negotiations between Moise Tshombe and the Congolese authorities during the Congo Crisis of 1960-1964. In addition, he led a vocal protest against the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 in South Africa and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade other British countries to expel South Africa from the Commonwealth following the Apartheid policies of the country.
While serving as Prime Minister, Balewa doubled as the Foreign Minister. His administration, in 1961, created an official ministerial position for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. This paved the way for Jaja Wachukwu to become the first substantive Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, from 1961 to 1965.
The Assassination of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
The federal structure of government, which ascribed more authority to the regions, made it difficult for Balewa to effectively discharge his duties. Just two years after independence, chaos broke out in the Western Region due to a power tussle between its leaders – Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola, who had succeeded the former as Premier.
Awolowo sought to cement the AG’s stronghold in the Western Region, wanting to ensure that they do not depend on the federal government. However, Akintola thought otherwise. He wanted to form a coalition with the centre. This led to a disparity between both leaders and eventually, an ousting of Akintola from the AG.
The outbreak of unrest and violence in the Western Region led Balewa to intervene by declaring a state of emergency in the region, even though the crisis was confined to the Regional House of Assembly. Awolowo was later charged with treasonable felony and jailed.
The Western Regional elections of October 1965 worsened issues and further strained the faith of Nigerians in the country’s system of government. The election was characterised by violence, intimidation, and rigging of votes. The Western Region was out of control, and Tafawa Balewa was unable to stem the unrest that was popularly known as Operation Wetie, which earned the region the nickname, the Wild West.
Then, on January 15, 1966, Nigeria’s first military coup happened. Led by Majors Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna, the coup led to the abduction and eventual death of the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. His body was found five days later at Ifo, along Abeokuta Road, together with that of Festus Okotie-Eboh, his Minister of Finance.
Controversy Over Tafawa Balewa’s Death
Controversies have trailed the death of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
One of them was made by Matthew T. Mbu, the youngest minister in Balewa’s cabinet, who quoted Christopher Okigbo, and who in turn quoted Ifeajuna, that the Prime Minister had asthma and gasped to death. But this claim has been debunked as Balewa had no known history of asthma before his abduction and death.
However, Balewa’s biographer, Trevor Clark, gave a succinctly detailed version of what went down during the coup. The Prime Minister had been abducted and killed by Major Emmanuel Ijeafuna, who shot Balewa and left his body in a bush by the roadside along Abeokuta Road.
In another report, veteran journalist Olusegun Osoba claimed that the body of Balewa, which he saw, was fresh and was not in a decomposed state as that of Okotie-Eboh.
Nevertheless, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was buried in his hometown of Bauchi, where his tomb, which includes a library and a mosque, has been declared a national monument.
As Ifeajuna was executed by Ojukwu due to a treason charge on September 25, 1967, without knowing his side of the story on how Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa died, the “truth” behind the death of Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister remains a mystery. What really silenced the Golden Voice of Africa may never be known.
Want to understand what really happened during Nigeria’s first military coup? Read A Carnage Before Dawn. Get the e-book here and the paperback here.
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