amalgamation of these historically diverse ethnic communities to form the single federal state of Nigeria without their consent resulted in an artificial fusion of disparate cultures, religions, languages and geographical sizes of the federating ethnic identities. In the ensuing contest for dominance, the issues affecting the minority groups were neglected and therefore remained a fertile breeding ground for discontent and marginalisation. 72. In the build-up to independence, the relations between these three dominant ethnic groups were characterised by rivalries among them in a triangular contest for power on an ethnoregional basis of political association that is evident to this day. The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) controlled the Eastern Region, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) held sway in the Northern Region, and the Action Group (AG) was influential in the Western Region. Other minority parties included the Northern Elements Progressive Union, the United Middle Belt Congress, the Bornu Youth Movement, the United National Independent Party, the Niger Delta Congress, the Benin-Delta People’s Party and the Mid-West State Movement. Some of these parties aligned themselves with one of the other dominant parties in exchange for political leverage, including demands for the creation of separate states. Independence and the First Republic (1960–1966) 44 73. As colonial rule evolved in Nigeria, there were prolonged demands for participation in government at all levels, culminating in political independence on 1 October 1960. In October 1963, Nigeria proclaimed itself a federal republic and promulgated a new constitution. 74. The independent government inherited a weak sociopolitical structure, a defective and unbalanced federation underpinned by intense ethnic consciousness and rivalries, a subverted indigenous ethos of government and culture and, above all, an inexperienced leadership. Most of the apparatus of state – the civil service, the judiciary and the police – could not meet or support the aspirations of the emergent state. Nationalist politicians quickly mutated into champions of ethnic dominance for whom politics became a ferociously contested terrain with state power as the ultimate prize. 75. All the major political parties – important instruments for social and political mobilisation – were ethnically based. North-South conflicts, which had been husbanded by the British as part of their divide-and-rule tactics, were so pronounced that they impacted negatively on all political decisions. Within each region, minority groups genuinely and legitimately complained about their domination by majority groups and sought relief in the creation of more states, but they were ignored or ruthlessly suppressed. From all indications, despite the euphoria of independence, Nigeria was headed for a turbulent and crisis-ridden future. 76. The evolution of regions and states in Nigeria from the structure inherited at independence points to the complexities of managing interregional, religious and ethnic relations. In an attempt to meet the demands and concerns of the minority tribes, more political and administrative units were created. In 1967, the military government in place moved away from the four regions to create 12 states.