Nigeria, Aug. 5 -- In the political history of modern Nigeria, there have been five efforts at trying to divide Nigeria at different times and by different sections of the country. Two attempts were actually carried out and three were agitations and did not go beyond that. To add to this there was also a plebiscite to decide the fate of some parts of the country.

The first request or agitation for the breakup of Nigeria ironically came from the then northern region. That followed a motion for Independence for Nigeria in 1951 by Chief Anthony Enahoro. In the motion at the Federal parliament in Lagos, Chief Enahoro moved that Nigeria be granted Independence by 1956 through a process supervised by the British colonial rulers of Nigeria. The...