<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>Unfortunately, Sir James Robertson’s plan succeeded partly because leading southern politicians, especially Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, failed to put in abeyance their personal egos and radioactive Igbo-vers<wm>ity ambitions for a time. They refused to support the Nkrumah, who he would become.
While this might cause embarrassment to the Igbo people of the North East region, Azikiwe and Ogunsoke did gain some concessions on behalf of the Southern sector, and on several key legislative motions in favor of the region, and one could argue that his leadership helped to reduce the power vacuum created by Lord Frederick Lugard’s departure from Nigeria. However, for them, the gains were</wm> small in the sense that his leadership failed to win them lasting recognition.
In 1951, a