Nigeria’s First Republic, established under the 1954 constitution and operating from independence in 1960 until the January 1966 coup, began with immense optimism. The new nation inherited functioning administrative institutions, a professional civil service, and an educated political elite committed to self-rule. Yet within a decade, the Republic collapsed under the weight of regional rivalry, corruption, and declining public trust.
Patterns of conflict of interest, patronage politics, and weak accountability emerged early and soon became systemic. By the mid-1960s, these practices had so corroded faith in civilian rule that the military justified its intervention as a moral “cleansing” of a corrupt political order.
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Colonial Legacies and Institutional Weaknesses in the First Republic
The origins of corruption in the First Republic lay deep in colonial governance. Under British rule, indirect administration relied on Native Authorities and regional political patrons. These intermediaries were rewarded with access to contracts, titles, and taxation privileges, embedding a culture of personal loyalty over institutional accountability (Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism, 1958).
At independence, Nigeria’s federal system preserved these patronage patterns. Regional governments, dominated respectively by the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), Action Group (AG), and National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), controlled vast resources and used appointments and contracts to consolidate political dominance. Weak oversight institutions and the absence of clear conflict-of-interest laws allowed public office to merge easily with private enrichment.
As political scientist Richard Sklar observed, “the fusion of political power and economic privilege became the organizing principle of Nigeria’s early party system”
The African Continental Bank and the Foster–Sutton Inquiry
One of the earliest major corruption scandals was the African Continental Bank (ACB) affair, involving Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, then Premier of the Eastern Region. Allegations surfaced that Azikiwe had maintained personal and family interests in the ACB even as his government deposited substantial public funds there.
A Foster–Sutton Commission of Inquiry (1956) confirmed that Azikiwe’s shares had not been fully divested and that his influence might have helped the bank during liquidity crises, a clear conflict of interest. However, the commission stopped short of criminal charges, instead recommending constitutional safeguards to prevent similar cases.
Although Azikiwe remained revered as a nationalist, the ACB case became the first high-profile episode exposing the blurred line between politics and private business in postcolonial Nigeria.
The Western Region Crisis and the Coker Commission
The Western Region soon became the stage for Nigeria’s most dramatic political and financial scandals. The conflict between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, leaders of rival factions within the Action Group, began as a dispute over policy direction but evolved into a struggle over patronage control.
By 1962, the rivalry led to legislative chaos and violence, prompting a federal state of emergency. A Coker Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate allegations of financial impropriety in regional corporations, notably the Western Region Marketing Board and the National Investment and Properties Company (NIPC).
The commission’s 1962 report found that millions of pounds from cocoa revenue had been loaned to party-linked projects, including the AG’s newspaper and political campaigns, without proper security or repayment mechanisms. Although the inquiry avoided the word “corruption,” it exposed widespread misuse of public corporations for partisan ends.
These findings deepened factional bitterness, undermined investor confidence, and symbolized the broader collapse of financial accountability within Nigeria’s regions.
Statutory Corporations and Federal Patronage in the First Republic
Beyond the Western Region, corruption also afflicted federal and regional statutory corporations, including the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN), and marketing boards in the North and East.
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee reports (1962–1965) revealed contract inflation, procurement fraud, and nepotistic appointments across multiple agencies.
While few prosecutions followed, these reports confirmed a structural problem: state-owned enterprises had become extensions of ruling party machines. Civil servants and board members were often appointed on political loyalty rather than merit, a pattern that weakened efficiency and blurred the lines between state, party, and personal interests.
As scholar Billy Dudley later noted, “government became the principal dispenser of patronage, and politics the main avenue to wealth”
The absence of independent enforcement meant that inquiry reports were rarely acted upon, reinforcing a culture of impunity.
Local Corruption and the Tiv Disturbances in the First Republic
Corruption in the First Republic was not confined to elite politics; it also infected local administration. In the Northern Region, the Native Authority system, often dominated by loyalists of the NPC, became notorious for extortion, land manipulation, and political exclusion.
Among the Tiv people of the Middle Belt, these abuses provoked violent uprisings in 1960 and 1964. Tiv farmers accused local officials of embezzling taxes and exploiting customary power for personal gain. The federal government’s violent suppression, involving mass arrests and killings, reflected the regime’s inability to address legitimate grievances.
Though the Tiv disturbances were not purely about financial corruption, they exposed the deeper decay of legitimacy caused by administrative injustice and the misuse of local authority.
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Elections, Violence, and “Operation Wetie”
By the mid-1960s, electoral corruption had become systemic. The 1964 federal elections were marred by ballot stuffing, intimidation, and boycotts in parts of the East and West. Opposition parties accused the NPC-led coalition of rigging the polls to maintain dominance.
The 1965 Western Region elections descended into chaos. When the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), aligned with Akintola and the federal government, was declared victorious amid clear manipulation, protests erupted across the region.
The violence that followed, known as “Operation Wetie” (“wet him”, referring to burning opponents with petrol), saw homes torched, ballot boxes destroyed, and dozens killed.
Judicial inquiries and eyewitness accounts confirmed widespread rigging and intimidation. The events discredited the electoral system and extinguished what little faith remained in constitutional governance.
The 1966 Coup and the Rhetoric of Purification
On January 15, 1966, a group of young military officers led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu overthrew the civilian government. In his broadcast, Nzeogwu declared that the coup aimed to end “corruption, tribalism, and the exploitation of the common man.”
Although the coup’s deeper causes included ethnic imbalance, army grievances, and regional rivalry, the rhetoric of anti-corruption gave it strong moral legitimacy.
Public reaction was initially favorable: many Nigerians viewed the military as a corrective force after years of venality and political violence.
However, as subsequent events showed, the military’s promise of “cleansing” would give way to its own authoritarian excesses, perpetuating, not eliminating, the structural roots of corruption.
Enduring Patterns and Lessons of the First Republic
From parliamentary debates, commission reports, and later scholarship, three enduring features of First Republic corruption stand out:
- Conflict of Interest:Public officials maintained private business stakes (e.g., ACB case) while in office.
- Patronage as Governance:Political loyalty determined appointments, contracts, and resource allocation.
- Weak Enforcement:Investigations such as the Foster–Sutton and Coker Commissions produced findings but no real sanctions.
These patterns entrenched a clientelist political culture in which access to public funds became a tool of survival. The civil service, once seen as neutral, became politicised, eroding institutional professionalism.
Why These Early Scandals Still Matter
The corruption patterns of Nigeria’s First Republic did not disappear with military rule, they evolved.
Subsequent regimes, both military and civilian, inherited its informal networks of favoritism and its blurred boundary between state and party.
Understanding these early scandals is essential because they reveal how corruption in Nigeria is not simply a matter of moral failure but of institutional design. Weak checks and balances, regional patronage politics, and ineffective oversight mechanisms, all visible between 1954 and 1966, continue to shape Nigeria’s political economy today.
Corruption in Nigeria’s First Republic was not a series of isolated moral lapses; it was a systemic condition rooted in colonial patronage, politicised governance, and weak enforcement.
The Foster–Sutton and Coker Commissions, the Western Region crisis, and the Tiv uprisings all demonstrated how institutional failure and self-interest eroded the moral authority of the state.
Author’s Note
The 1966 coup, justified in the name of reform, was both a reaction to and a product of these structural weaknesses.
By tracing these documented scandals, historians show that the Republic’s collapse was not inevitable, it was the predictable outcome of a system where power and wealth became indistinguishable. The legacy of that first collapse continues to shape Nigeria’s struggle for accountable governance today.
References:
Coleman, J. S. (1958). Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. University of California Press.
Dudley, B. J. (1973). Instability and Political Order in Nigeria. University of Ibadan Press.
Ojo, E. O. (2014). “The Awolowo–Akintola Leadership Tussle: A Reinterpretation.” Journal of Arts & Humanities.
Okpeh O. Okpeh (2004). “The Tiv and the Crisis of the Nigerian Federation, 1946–1964.” African Studies Review.
Sklar, R. L. (1963). “Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System.” The Journal of Modern African Studies.
Uche, C. U. (1997). “Banking Scandal in a British West African Colony: The Politics of the African Continental Bank Crisis.” Financial History Review. Cambridge University Press.
