Herbert Macaulay studied Civil Engineering in Britain. He qualified as a civil engineer in 1893. Indeed, he is recognised as the first Nigerian with such a professional qualification. He proudly attached the letters C.E. (Civil Engineer) to his name, and also practiced as an architect.
In 1923, he launched the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), regarded as the first political party in Nigeria, following the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution in 1922, which allowed elected representatives for the Legislative Council and also created a municipal council in Lagos. The NNDP dominated the political space for many years, and Herbert Macaulay, who was known as Mr. Democratic Party on account of his pivotal position in the party, earned the unchallenged appellation ‘Leader of Nigerian Politics’. When the political situation took a new turn and the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) successfully challenged the dominance of the NNDP, Herbert Macaulay’s patriotic spirit promoted inter-party cooperation as a necessity in the struggle for political freedom. The formation of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944 led to a political merger that saw Herbert Macaulay emerge as the party’s first President.
In 1927, Herbert Macaulay and his friend, John Akinlade Caulcrick, a medical doctor and politician, bought The Lagos Daily News, a newspaper founded in 1925 by Victor Babamuboni, a Lagos bookseller and printer. Herbert Macaulay was a keen monitor of the issues of the day, and expressed his views vigorously in pamphlets and newspaper articles. For instance, he criticised the government’s policy on the liquor trade, the water-rate scheme, the plan to build a separate church for white government officials, and the press law, among others.
Herbert Macaulay’s pamphlet in 1908 criticising the Lagos Railway prompted Governor Egerton to propose a law that would restrict the press. The pamphlet, titled ‘Governor Egerton and the Railway’, focused on corruption among white officials of the Railway. The power of the pamphlet drew attention to Herbert Macaulay. He also regularly launched attacks on the colonial administration through critical newspaper articles.
Herbert Macaulay fought various battles against the British colonial government. He was an anti-colonial combatant by conviction and choice, for he could have followed the comfortable path of collaboration with the colonialists if he wished. His background and education placed him among the elite of Lagos society. He actually belonged to the circle from which the colonial government nominated African representatives to the Legislative Council.
But Herbert Macaulay was not the personality-type that appealed to the British administration, which regarded him as too principled, too critical, too independent, too bold and too assertive.
In style and manners, Herbert Macaulay was so polished that the people of Lagos referred to him as Oyinbo Alawodudu (white man in black skin). He was noted for his handle-bar moustache, well-cut suits and long bow ties. He described his moustache and bow tie as “parallel and inseparable”. He was known as ‘The Wizard of Kirsten Hall’.
But Herbert Macaulay was a remarkable grassroots politician. He played important roles in the celebrated Apapa Land Case as well as the equally celebrated Eleko case, which ended in favour of indigenous interests and gave a big boost to his image as a champion of justice. Herbert Macaulay was known as ‘Champion and Defender of Native Rights and Liberties’. No other politician of his time could match his rapport with the common people. For instance, he cultivated the friendship of Madam Alimotu Pelewura, the powerful leader of the Lagos Market Women’s Association, and could easily count upon the support of thousands of market women in Lagos. The masses composed songs in honour of Herbert Macaulay.
A July 1931 edition of West Africa painted a pen portrait of Herbert Macaulay: “He has a voice and a laugh which would be passports anywhere. The quickness, the energy, the comprehensiveness, with which he can write an article – or a book, if need be – or make a speech, or organise a demonstration, are incredible.”
In my search for Herbert Macaulay’s writings, I found a seven-page piece handwritten by him. He was at the time President of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons and described himself as having “experience of a period of over half-a-century as a West African journalist in practical politics, and as the Proprietor and Controlling Editor of The Lagos Daily News, the first daily newspaper printed in Lagos”. The piece was titled: ”The Government of Nigeria and the Press”.
Herbert Macaulay said: “We have been taught to realise the incontrovertible fact that from the moment that the invention of the art of printing added a new element of power to the inhabitants of this world, the human brain, not armament, the thinker and not the soldier, books and not kings, governors, Residents or Commissioners were to henceforth rule the world in a most especial sense…”
He continued: “In confirmation of this, we have the declaration of the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Beaconsfield who was Prime Minister of all England in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880 that: “The Press is not only free; it is powerful. That power is ours. It is the proudest that man can enjoy. It was not granted by monarchs, it was not gained for us by aristocracies; but it sprang from the people and, with an immortal instinct, it has always worked for the people.” Therefore, despotism in any shape or form and the Freedom of the Press cannot possibly exist together…It was Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, who declared that: “A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” As an institution of the greatest possible value, the Press in Nigeria should take its place as one of the chief bulwarks of the freedom and liberty of the people of this vast territory…”
At Herbert Macaulay’s funeral in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who succeeded him as NCNC leader, referred to him as “my political father”. Azikwe said in a graveside oration: “He has left an imperishable legacy, the struggle for the attainment of social equality, economic security, religious tolerance and political freedom.” This struggle continues today.
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