Nigeria: Transitions of Nigerian Hegemony

7 March 2014

In the light of the centenary celebrations it occurred to me that 100 years of Nigeria's political history can be recalled through what I call the transitions of Nigerian hegemony; from the British colonialists to the Northern region, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan. I assume that by now the Nigerian reading public is familiar with the usage of the word hegemony. It connotes the exercise of imperial dominance or preponderant influence and authority over others.

The usage originated in the context of international politics where a country or a group of countries are subordinated to the imperial and colonial domination of a more powerful country. Hegemony is also interchangeable with the concept of the sphere of influence especially with regards to the partition of Africa among the European powers; and the cold war era bipolar division of the world between America-led geopolitical Western hemisphere and the Soviet Union-led geopolitical Eastern hemisphere.

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