Hurricane in the House: The Jos Special Emergency Convention and the First Purge in the NCNC Party

Abstract

The NCNC party since late 1951 had been engrossed in an intraparty crisis over the fortunes of the Macpherson Constitution. As a means of settling this crisis once and for all, a special emergency convention of the party was summoned by the national leadership of the party in Jos between 8 and 12 December 1952. The Eastern Regional Leadership demurred the choice of Jos for the convention. The convention was heavily attended but by 31 out of 128 branch unions of the party nationwide. After four days of intensive deliberations some of which sessions were secret, the party came up with several decisions the most important of which was the purge of its three Central ministers who, incidentally, were not at the convention to plead their case.