The Tenure of Obafemi Awolowo as Vice President of Nigeria: Implications on Contemporary Nigeria's Political Permutations

Abstract

This paper presents the report of one of the hypotheses tested in a longitudinal study carried out by this researcher on Awolowo's rhetoric during the period spanning the whole of his career, as a politician. Specifically, it examines the period Awolowo was Nigeria's Vice-President and Commissioner for Finance, from March 17, 1967 till July 1, 1971, under General Yakubu Gowon's Supreme Military Council. Gowon, himself, served as Head of Military Government between 1 August, 1966 and 29 July, 1975. This paper probes into Awolowo's reactions to five different issues during this period. The five prominent issues are: the economy, politics, socio-cultural milieu, international relations and education. The purpose of the study was to analyse Awolowo's political speeches with a view to determining whether or not there was a statistically significant difference in his reactions to the issues. The study used the content analysis method and employed a logical scale, comprising 25 themes, to assess Awolowo's treatment of the issues (independent variable) against his apportioning of relative prominence to them (dependent variable). Findings, from the One-way ANOVA, revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in Awolowo's reactions to the five issues. No further analysis was required, as x̄1= x̄2=x̄3= x̄4=x̄5. Be that as it may, Awolowo's treatment of the issues are extensively discussed in line with relevant literature. The research results were presented in 2 Tables to show the pattern of Awolowo's rhetoric during this period.