ABSTRACT
The extension of colonial authority patterns to the entire Niger basin is synonymous with the second phase of the overthrow of indigenous authority in the nationalities that inhabit it. In Britain, the architects of classical colonial rule in the Niger basin were faced with diverse socio-political circumstances in the indigenous nationalities. Given that underlying rationale, it must have been clear to the British from the outset that they needed to employ military force to impose colonial rule in the Niger basin. The nature of the military force employed in the conquest of and exercise of colonial authority over the Igbo, the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani varied in intensity and regularity that reflected each nationality's political system and authority patterns. In the post-colonial period subsequent military actors who usurped power and exercised authority in the supra-national state invoked the same right as the sole base of legitimacy for their own rule.
