Ghana, Nigeria - The Unidentical Twins
Elizabeth Ohene
The economic difficulties in Nigeria were also coming to a head and President Shagari resorted to the remedy tried by Prime Minister Busia of Ghana's second republic - he gave marching orders to all illegal residents in Nigeria to quit within two weeks.THERE HAS always been more that binds Ghana and Nigeria together than the fact that the two West African countries were British colonies and thus English speaking in a sea of former French colonies and French speaking countries.
It is not quite clear whether it is the result of the colonial accident that makes the two countries and their people so similar in their experiences. Being British colonies meant, of course, that both countries had no choice but to interact, thus for all purposes, Togo and Benin (or Dahomey as it used to be) hardly existed, their peoples routinely frog leaped Togo and Benin to go and live in each other's countries regularly.
When Ghana got independence in 1957, and with it a flamboyant and megalomaniac leader, it was generally felt that Ghana had scored a decisive victory over Nigeria in the undeclared contest between the two.
Many Nigerians were quite angry that their much bigger nation seemed satisfied" to be taking second place to the much smaller Ghana. The low key and sober style of the Abubakar Tafewa Balewa regime of the Nigerian first republic was in sharp contrast to the loud and aggressive style of Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and the love-hate relationship only deepened, fluctuating from the sporting competitions between the two nations.
CONSTITUTION
In January 1966 when the first military coup put paid to Nigeria's first republic, many Ghanaians were immediately apprehensive even if the young progressives/socialists of the University of Ghana proclaimed themselves to have been "spiritually a few weeks later, February 24th, 1966, Ghana went the way of Nigeria with her own coup d'etat.The Nigerian coup, however, proved not to have been a straightforward affair and finally plunged the nation into a bloody civil war that lasted for three years. The Ghanaians, in the meantime, had an easier task and scored another first over Nigeria when their soldiers of their own accord organised elections and handed over power to civilians elected under the constitution.
The civilian administration, faced with increasing economic difficulties, decided to do something drastic and ordered all aliens illegally resident in Ghana out of the country. Partly as a result of past colonial links, and also because of the civil war that had raged in Nigeria for three years, the majority of the "illegal residents" happened to be Nigerians and the exercise was therefore seen as a measure aimed at Nigeria.
Around the time that Nigeria started recovering from the effects of the civil war and her newly discovered oil had started making record earnings, soldiers intervened again in the Ghana political scene after only two years of civil rule.
PROSPERITY
While Nigeria went into a period of prosperity and growth, Ghana deteriorated rapidly on all fronts. In early 1974, visiting Nigerians were looking at and admiring the Accra-Tema motorway in Ghana and there wasn't one mile of equal quality motorable road in Nigeria at the time. In less than two years, while most roads in Ghana had become full of pot-holes and unpass- able, fly-overs and expressways were appearing virtually overnight in Nigeria.The prosperity on the one hand and the decline on the other was visible not only on the roads, but also on the creative scene. The 'highlife' music mecca moved from Ghana to Nigeria as the atmosphere in Nigeria became more conducive to creativity.
Come 1975, the almost indolent atmosphere that had descended on Nigeria was shattered with the overthrow of General Gowon followed by the short, sharp rule of General Murtala Muhammed when Nigerian society was shaken to its very roots with the war on corruption.
This, however, lasted only for six months when Gen. Muhammad was killed and the less fiery Gen. Obasanjo took over and initiated a process towards the return to civil rule.
EXECUTIONS
Ghana in the meantime continued on her downward spiral with a not very effective palace coup which toppled Gen. Acheampong and brought Gen. Akuffo to power, who also initiated a process towards a return to civil rule. Before that could happen Flt-Lt J.J. Rawlings came on to the Ghana scene with his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council rule which shook Ghana to its very foundations. A war on corruption meant the execution of eight of the country's leaders and the jailing of scores more. The brunt of the soldiers' anger went on the market women who were forced to reduce prices drastically or were whipped in public. This lasted for almost four months and again the soldiers handed over power to a civilian administration.By this time, there was hardly any contest any more, Ghana appeared to be down and out while the equally new Nigerian civilian administration was being courted by all. Ghana had obviously become the poor nation with President Hilla Limann visiting Nigeria about five times in two years without a single reciprocal visit by President Shehu Shagari while President Shagari was being feted at the White House and was guest of the Queen at Buckingham Palace, the British newspapers did not give even two inches of space to an official visit by President Limann to Britain.
SHOCK
Come December 31st, 1981, Flt- Lt Rawlings overthrew President Limann bringing to an end the life of the Third Republic while the Nigerians appeared to grow from strength to strength.To news of the happenings in Ghana, most Nigerians reacted with shock horror "ah, ah, that can never happen in Nigeria..."
But in the meantime, the economic difficulties in Nigeria were also coming to a head and President Shagari resorted to the remedy tried by Prime Minister Busia of Ghana's second republic - he gave marching orders to all illegal residents in Nigeria to quit within two weeks. Since at this time the majority of the aliens were Ghanaians, the exercise looked like having been aimed only at Ghana and Ghanaians, and a replay of memories past was enacted all over again.
For Ghana's second republic October 1st had been chosen as the date instead of July 1st which was the date of the first republic. October 1st is the republic day for Nigeria.
Suddenly December 31st seems to be the date that both countries will be celebrating as anniversaries, for it was exactly two years to the date that Flt-Lt Rawlings threw out Dr. Limann that Gen. Buhari has kicked out Alhaji Shagari.
One of the first pronouncements of Gen. Buhari is that he will not tolerate litigation; he has also ordered market women to reduce prices or else...
All very familiar to those who have been watching the Ghana scene.
