THE KINGDOM OF APES: The birth of a Nation in Africa. Epistle 2

KINGDOM OF APES: THE BIRTH OF A NATION IN AFRICA

I have thought about this several times and wish to let the world know the story of the birth of a nation in Africa using fictional objects, animals and names to depict actual events that took place. This is not a story that never occurred but a true life story and some steemians who are historians will understand this story. The subject matter is basically to show the trends of the birth of one of the most populated black nation in Africa. I have no intention to blackmail or blame any individual whether dead or alive but to describe what actually happened, using characters that could be easily explained to an audience who may or may not have heard about how this nation came to be. I intend to publish this story in epistles so as to create a contest out of this. There shall be questions emanating from each epistle which I intend to publish three days after each epistle is posted.
Note: I do not intend to blame or describe anybody, group and tribe as evil or the cause of however or whichever way this story ends. Read and understand the series with an open mind. There are lesson to be learnt here. Also, suggestions would be welcomed as we proceed in publishing; it could be the mode of contest, suggestion on how to make it more fun as we continue on the story etc.
Remember to support this project in any form you can so that the resources needed to carry out the contest will never be a problem. Let’s make this fun!
This is the second epistle of THE KINGDOM OF APES. if you truly want to know the story of how the most populated black nation came to be, go to my blog read the first epistle and follow me @mosesogenyi so that you don't miss out on future publish.

Continue from Epistle 1

The industrial Age, the birth of a nation in Africa
Since the Gorillas had already placed kings in different villages and cities, they decided to use this method to get more natural resources (Elephant tusk) from the natives of their colonies. The came into the most populated black nation through the south west, present day lagos and they unseated the King of lagos because He was not in support of their full dominance trade activities. They replaced him with another chimpanzee named Atonyile who helped them in getting more Elephants and these Tusk were shipped out of the region. Atonyile was replaced by Mundosa when the Gorillas discovered that he was too smart for them. The Gorillas went further to trade with other parts of the region, going east and south. They made treaty with the eastern and southern kingdoms ( igwes and obas), though they had resistance but later came to an agreement. The most influential of these kings was Kiasa of Makpopo, He rebelled with Gorillas on the high tax imposed on trade activities and this led to a war between the south led by king Kiasa of Makpopo and the Army of the Gorillas. The war lasted for a while and King Kiasa was sent to Europe as He was accused of many charges but on his way back to his people, He died though many claimed he was killed by the Gorillas.
The quest for more resource control by the Gorillas increased as the started shipping out other agricultural products from every region of the colony. Groundnut was predominantly found in the Northern region; Rubber, cotton and cocoa in the west while palm oil in the East. As exportation increases, Administrators were sent to the colony from Europe to govern both political and commercial activities. The Gorillas enjoyed smooth administration in the North as the Northern region already had a centralized political system where the leader who is the political and religious head, govern the state. These leaders were called Emirs; they enjoy full compliance from their subjects hence, the Gorillas leverage on that to achieve their political and commercial aims.

The Amalgamation
In 1914, the governor of the colony decided to bring together the North, south and west to form a nation. It was called the amalgamation of 1914, where the three regions were seen as one nation irrespective of the tribal, religion and political diversity. The presence of the Gorillas forming a system of government helped in bringing the three regions together. These allowed inter-relations between the north and the south in terms of business, agricultural produce that are needed in the north were moved to the north and produce in the north were moved to the south and majority were shipped out of the country to Europe.
The unity created after 1914, made the three regions see themselves as one and they started fighting for their freedom from the Gorillas. One of those who strongly oppose the Gorillas was called Mocorlay whose father was a priest. He studied in Europe, he could write and read. He wrote many letters, articles and journals against the injustice done in his homeland by the Gorillas. During that period, envoys were sent to Europe to meet with the parliament of the Gorillas to request independence from colonial rule, that visit wasn’t fruitful as their request was rejected. When they returned home, the rage led to another crisis in the south. Commercial activities were shut down due to the crisis. The agitators continued to pressure the Gorillas for independence. In 1958, a memorandum was sent by the Queen of the Gorillas promising freedom to the Nation in 1960.

Independence
In October 1960 they were given independence, granting them sovereignty to govern themselves and a chimpanzee from the north named Bawata was made the prime minister while a baboon from the south named Akwezi was made the president. They was joy in every part of the country but the chimpanzees from the north, baboons from the south and the monkeys from the middle belt were in full support of the government of the day.
They started building structures and establishing agencies but as more money was made from taxes and also during this period crude oil was discovered at a place called Obilori. Exploration of crude gave the government more money for capital projects. Schools, hospitals and ministries were built but some of the politicians became corrupt as they started living flamboyant lifestyles. The southerners started saying they were not enjoying the dividends of the government, they claimed most government developmental activities were taken to the north.

The first military coup
Many reporters wrote about how politicians had used public funds for private ventures, these led to a coup in 1966 organized by some young military officers from the south headed by General Ikonzi. They forcefully cease power from the civilian government, killing government officials such as the premier of the north, the prime minister and mostly northern government officials. Military men became governors and administrators in the country, appointments seem to be one sided. These angered soldiers from the northern extraction, they were angry with the military government remembering how their brothers were killed in the coup and some southern politicians were given pardon.

The second military coup and further Divisions
The second coup took place that same year, unseated General Ikonzi, He was killed with other of his fellow administrators by the organizers of the coup and General Kubaya a monkey from the middle belt, though a young soldier was made the military head of state. He came on board as head of state claiming that the previous military government was corrupt. Also, these did not go well with some soldiers from the south as they see this coup as a revenge on what happened in the first military coup. Soldiers from the southern region were sent to jail without trial, some were killed unjustly by the northern military administrators. Also many southern civilians were killed that period in the north by northerners as revenge for their compatriots that were killed during the first military coup. All these events made some young soldiers from the south east and south-south to form a sessional government from the nation claiming they are now a sovereign state. They called the new country Riafra, they made their own currency, had their military and bank. They were at an advantage because as at that time, there was crude oil boom in the world and most of the oil extracting fields were in the south-south and south east. The leader of the Riafra state General Okakwu made allies with France and other European powers claiming the Riafrans can stand on their own as a sovereign nation. He came out to boost many times that they had the military strength to defend their territories from any form of attack by external forces.
To be continued
Thanks for reading and remember to upvote, resteem and follow if you like this story and want to follow up on future epistle. Also remember that contest would be organized from this story The KINGDOM OF THE APES.
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written by me @mosesogenyi