"ZIK" CAUSES SENSATION IN PRESS INTERVIEW from a Lagos correspondent
When giving an interview to the editor of the mass-circulation Daily Times, President Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (known as "ZIK") spoke of the possible disintegration of Nigeria, Mr. Peter Fnaharo ~ brother of the jailed action group leadey, Chief Anthony Enaharo = quoted Zik as saying: "What is happening in Nigeria today does not inspire me to be optimistic that we shall survive as one nation." And further, "It is possible that Nigeria will disintegrate because I cannot conceive of a united country where the citizens of one region regard their compatriots as interlopers, If we ultimately survive as one nation, then I would be too old and can only play whatever role is destined for me, provided seven things are done." These seven points included the formation of a socialist front.
Zik continued: "If we fail to heed the signs of the times and continue to play the old game of power politics, then we are fertilising the soil of Nigerian society for an unparalleled social upheaval the like of which we may not comprehend now." Speaking of his attitude to a plan for the federation of Africa he saids "In Nigeria, where it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for some opposing political pzpties to campaign and have the right of audience in the territories of the opponents during the crucial election that is supposedly democratic, the existence of a Federation rests on creaky props. How much more, then, the establishment of an African Continental Federationee.."
This incident, together with many others, shows just how far the process of social disintegration has gone in Nigeria. Tribalism, which is what Zik is hitting at, has been deliberately sponsored in all the countries of Africa by imperialism as a counter to unified national struggles.