First Published in 1968. In retrospect it now seems clear that the federal elections of December 1964 and the constitutional crisis which followed mark the apogee of the civilian government headed by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The ‘broadbased’ government which emerged from the crisis represented, at best, a shaky compromise. A decisive jolt came when in the early hours of January 15, 1966, a group of young army officers, mainly Ibo, led some soldiers in a coup which ended in the death of the Federal Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar. The regional Premiers of the North and the West were also killed, as were a number of high-ranking Hausa and Yoruba officers. This volume asks what went wrong and ledto Nigeria’s slow decline into civil chaos and the possibility of political disintegration.

Volume 4 in the Studies in Political Development Series. Originally published in 1965. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Includes entries for maps and atlases.