I just came across this revealing and deep historical account of the British or better know as the colonial rulers, on the role the governor general played in the rigging of the first election in Nigeria in 1959.
This is strictly for the youths, so as to know and help guide their thoughts on the present state of Nigeria politics,
Nothing happens by mistake, the north's strong hold and sense of ownership of the Nigeria entity,didn't start today,it was the brain work of the British rulers.
They were solely responsible for the backwardness of this potentially great nation,by down playing the strong and vibrant minds,who were so ready to serve and take the country to a greater height, but they (British rulers) decided to hand it over to their "friends ".
Pls take a little time out and hear this account from one of the participants of the British government.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gSbMescYwc

Harold Smith, the big lie, and Nigeria 2019
By Femi Olugbile on August 23, 2019

Harold Smith was an Englishman who was born in Manchester in 1927. He was educated at Oxford. He joined the Colonial Service in 1954. He was deployed to Nigeria in 1955 and lived in Lagos, working in the Ministry of Labour headquarters under the administration of the then Governor-General James Robertson.

Sometime in 2013, at the age of 80, he gave an interview on BEN Television, a UK-based network much patronised by Nigerians in the diaspora.

The long and short of his interview with BEN Television was that he wanted to get a burden of guilty feeling off his mind in the twilight of his days.

He had travelled to Nigeria at the age of 26 with his wife. He had settled into the rhythm of a colonial officer’s life with its genteel perquisites.

As time went on, he began to learn that things were not quite what they seemed. The colonial project and the preparations for Independence in the erstwhile colony of Nigeria were not being executed with honesty and transparency, but with a hidden agenda based on the British perception of who were the most pliable among the people on the ground, and what arrangements could best guarantee British interests in perpetuity.

He was, he disclosed, approached by other officers and told, off the record, that if he “cooperated”, he would be rapidly promoted and set up comfortably for the rest of his life. There might even be a knighthood on offer down the line. There were a number of ways he was supposed to “cooperate”. One of them was in falsifying the results of the census to give the northern part of the emerging nation a much larger population than the south. Another was in facilitating the “rigging” of elections against the Action Group in the western region.

Mr Smith described his initial shock at the things he was asked to do, and his refusal to “play ball”. In the end, apparently, the actions were “successfully” executed, even without his cooperation. Much has been made of the sensational disclosures of this frail and dour-looking Englishman, who has since died.

For those who believe Harold Smith, Nigeria the nation was founded on a big lie. Population figures were deliberately doctored to favour one section over another. The nation was a booby-trapped project, programmed from the start to fail.

After his Nigerian experience, and indeed for much of the rest of his life, he was plagued with ill health. He was diagnosed with Tropical Sprue. Tropical Sprue is a chronic disease of the small intestine characterised by ulcers in the mouth, weight loss, tiredness and perpetually poor absorption and digestion of food. It is a miserable existence that often defies cure.

As the discussion wore on, Smith dropped a suggestion that it was possible for such a “disease” to have been inflicted through the sinister work of the British Secret Service, who were past masters in such matters. This, and his failure to get a golden handshake or be rewarded with a knighthood were the price he paid for his refusal to cooperate with the project to distort the Nigeria project, even though the distortion was still accomplished over his objections.

There is an additional detail to Harold Smith’s story.

The Harold Smith narrative plays pat into the script of many people who see fact that Nigeria is structured to favour one section of the nation over the rest as the root cause of the country’s failure to thrive. Suspicion of manipulation of census figures has affected even the census exercises conducted after Independence. Since political power and financial allocations are substantially based on numbers, it seems guaranteed that whoever “has the numbers” will rule (or misrule) the nation in perpetuity.A ready example of present-day reality that plays into this narrative is that Lagos – recognized internationally as the most populated mega-city in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population in the region of 20 million people, the “official” population figure from 2012 is barely 11 million people. This figure and its small number of local governments remain the basis for determining its entitlement from the federal purse.

Many people have queried the Harold Smith story in its very essence. Some of the times and details do not add up. The census whose figures he was allegedly tasked to manipulate took place a number of years before his arrival in Nigeria. Despite his claim that he was summoned to the office of the Governor-General James Robertson to be “ticked-off” for refusing to “play ball”, he was still able to go on his six-month furlough subsequently, and he was reappointed for a further stint of duty, lasting till 1960. Something is fishy, somewhere. Or did he actually “play ball”, and regret it later, leading to his recanting?

The real take-away from this story is that, whatever mischief the colonials put in their script for Nigeria sixty years ago, Nigeria and Nigerians have no excuse to still be crowing about it in 2019. By now, Nigeria should have written its own script and be playing with it. The country has had enough experience of lopsided leadership to realise objectively that it doesn’t work.

The parts of the country most consistently favoured by political power and population figures have the highest out of school population figures in the whole world, and the lowest rankings on Human Development Index in the country, despite holding “power”. Nobody has truly profited from warehousing political power in any part of Nigeria.

In such a situation, nobody needs Harold Smith, or any big lie – if there ever was one, to conclude Nigeria needs a rethink of its structure and operation if it wants to be a great nation and bring out the best in its people – north and south. The nation needs to re-structure and re-strategize. It simply cannot continue to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

https://businessday.ng/columnist/article/harold-smith-the-big-lie-and-nigeria-2019/

@budaatum I quite agree some of your narratives,but the havoc done at the every beginning of a nation building is sincerity,which our colonial rulers flouted base on "our friend and loyal servant" and subsequently handing power to the least qualified tribe.

One thing stands out from his submissions, it could be that he was not as innocent as he claim,but certainly knows from first hand some of the event that took place back then,or how else can we explain the machavelian attitude of the north, are we to believes, they actually know and perfected the act of politicking than every other tribe in the country.

It's well on record and even till now how educationally disadvantaged the north's are, but till hold on to very sensitive and important post or position in the nation, they have ruled or presided over the affair of the country more than any other tribe, and still don't have much to show for both human,structural and industrial development.

So I will not write Harold Smith account off,I believe it part of history we need to address to chart a new beginning.

dawno2008:
@budaatum I quite agree some of your narratives,but the havoc done at the every beginning of a nation building is sincerity,which our colonial rulers flouted base on "our friend and loyal servant" and subsequently handing power to the least qualified tribe.

One thing stands out from his submissions, it could be that he was not as innocent as he claim,but certainly knows from first hand some of the event that took place back then,or how else can we explain the machavelian attitude of the north, are we to believes, they actually know and perfected the act of politicking than every other tribe in the country.

It's well on record and even till now how educationally disadvantaged the north's are, but till hold on to very sensitive and important post or position in the nation, they have ruled or presided over the affair of the country more than any other tribe, and still don't have much to show for both human,structural and industrial development.

So I will not write Harold Smith account off,I believe it part of history we need to address to chart a new beginning.

One error many make is in thinking the Northerners were least qualified. Facts are, long before the arrival of western education in Southern Nigeria, Northerners were reading and going to university and were much more highly regarded by the British who had become familiar with Islamic education from their experience they got colonising and ruling India. Even you note this when you mention "the machavelian attitude of the north" , and "they actually know and perfected the act of politicking than every other tribe in the country".

It is also not true that there was no industry in the North. Northerners had been trading with the rest of the world long before we in the south even new there was a rest of the world, having been exporting slaves and other goods for centuries.

These two facts are enough to make me suspect Mr Harold Smith. Saying that though, these two facts are also sufficient enough to make the British hand over power to the at the time, more educated and amiable Northerners. We in the South, did after all kick the Brits out, and we all should know how those who would lord over others get pissed off when those others lay hands on the hilt of the sword and ask who killed their father. Even God got pissed off when Adam and Eve rebelled so how much less mere humans? Would you not give the Bible to those who have so offended you and place cherubims with a flaming sword that flashes back and forth to guard the way to Plato and Aristotle least you Southerners reach out and grab it and live?

But all that is beside the point. Intelligent people ought to wonder how Northerners, who it is claimed lack education, can rule Nigeria for so long. In my opinion, it can only be because we down South are not as intelligent nor wise as we think we are, which is evidenced in the fact that we pray to gods to make changes for us instead of getting of our asses and making a difference ourselves, and also in the fact that we still haven't figured out what actually did happen.

While I agree that "we need to address history to chart a new beginning", we should not just accept any odd narative as history, is my point, and should research this much deeper.

@budaatum there's no special way to call wrong but "wrong" and that's was the reason I posted this video,so as to help youth understand the politics and politicking that went on in her past. The purpose of history is to help know the past,appreciate the present and help plan for the future.

But we can't progress as a nation,if the foundation of our so called union is built on lies,deceptions and faulty believes, or how can one swallow some of your points here.
1-which records? please show or direct so as to help others know better, so as to know the sons and daughters of the north who are well schooled before the arrival of the colonial rulers. Also from Harold Smith account, just as it's visible to the blind,and audible to the deaf,that the norths are less educationally develop, which has now turned big problem,not to them alone but rubbing off on the nation at large.
2-your second submission is totally wrong sir,it's also on records that the British met a well inform and organised western part of the south,so organised that they had built empires and their style of government, even though monarchy, but structured in a way the British couldn't believe the level of their civilizations,
that's the more reason, why they choose to deal with the north than the souths, cos they know the intellectual capacity of the souths in general.
Sir I've lived with the northerners and school in the north, sir there's is no way from my observations,interactions with them to believe they have any special or great political abilities than other tribes,but because the colonial rulers had planted in their subconscious mind the need to hold on to power, so as to be relevant in the scheme of things in the union.
If you travel well around our country,you'd notice the great divide of the north and south, even from culture and total ways of life, the colonial rulers,knowing fully that the smartness of the south will swallow up the north, played what Harold Smith just recanted,and even though the north were not prepared for independence, power was handed over to them,

Today we are where we are,simply because some European choose to play with the destiny of nation, if you are conversant with the politics and happenings of the Nigeria history prior to independent,
you agree with me,the role the British played is undeniable.
The sudden move of Zik to team up with the north,might look like a foolish move,couple with the facts that with his exposure and intellect, he was made only a ceremonial figure head, he (Harold Smith )said the British had a thing on him,so the blackmailed him into doing their bidding, but helping the north generate fund to persecute the election.

With the issue of population, only a demented mind would want to believe the north is more populated than the south,it's there for all to see,but we remain blind simply cos,we believe in the narrative given by a bunch of self centered and egoistic British.
This history is not to wage war but help the young generations know the basics and help reset the anomalies done by the past rulers.

This man was there and certainly know more about the in and out of the then colonial government, so I will take his account over some myths and assumptions.