Hubert Maga

Coutoucou Hubert Maga (August 10, 1916 – May 8, 2000) was a politician from Dahomey (now known as Benin).

He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region in Dahomey one lived in.

Born a peasant in 1916, Maga served as a schoolmaster from 1936 to 1945, during which time he gradually gained considerable influence among the uneducated.

Maga was born on August 10 or August 19, 1916 to a peasant family in Parakou, northern Dahomey.

Maga claimed he was a descendant of the Kingdom of Bourgou's royal family.

His Bariba mother and Voltaic father raised him in the Islamic faith.

His education began at Parakou, where his teacher was Emile Derlin Zinsou's father, followed by schools in Bohicon and Abomey.

Maga moved to Porto Novo to be educated at the Victor Ballot School, where he remained for three years.

During his subsequent schooling at the Ponty Normal School in Dakar, Maga became friends with Hamani Diori, the future president of Niger.

In his twenties Maga converted to Roman Catholicism which, according to journalist Ronald Matthews, "was not so common for a northerner".

He became a teacher at Natitingou in 1935.

In 1939, he married a fellow Christian, a nurse by profession, and the daughter of a prominent Brazilian of Fon origins from Ouidah.

Marriages between northern and southern Dahomeyans were uncommon at the time.

Maga was appointed director of the school in 1945.

Along with his new wife, he began to increase his influence among uneducated citizens.

He worked for trade unions after World War II, and led the Syndicat des instituteurs du Dahomey (Teachers' Union of Dahomey).

Maga's rise to power occurred during a period of intense regionalism, spurred by the historical resentment shared by members of the former kingdoms of Abomey, Porto Novo, and disorganised tribes from the north.

Its result was the creation of three de facto tribal zones: the north, southeast, and southwest, which were led by Maga, Sourou Migan Apithy, and Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, respectively.

Maga was elected a general adviser for the Atakora region in 1945, and, two years later, was appointed to the Grand Council of French West Africa, in which he served until 1952.

He was elected to Dahomey's territorial assembly in 1947 and founded the Northern Ethnical Group, later renamed the Dahomey Democratic Rally (Rassemblement Démocratique du Dahomé).

Following his election to the Dahomey General Council in 1947, Maga resigned his teaching post.

In 1951, Maga was elected to the French National Assembly, where he served in various positions, including premier from 1959 to 1960.

Maga's Ethnic Group of the North (later the Dahomeyan Democratic Movement), which merged into the Dahomeyan Democratic Rally in 1957, received little support outside his northern headquarters.

Even then, most of his backing came from the Bariba, while Apithy was mostly backed by the Yoruba and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, the Fon and Gouns.

Regionalistic attitudes would only intensify during the rest of the political careers of the three men, collectively known as Dahomey's triumvirate.

When Dahomey gained its independence from France on August 1, 1960, Maga was appointed to the presidency, and was officially elected to that post on December 11.

During Maga's term of office, Dahomey's economy collapsed; there was little foreign investment and unemployment rose.

Maga also faced a national crisis of unity, culminating in a failed assassination plot against him in May 1961 led by the main opposition leader, Justin Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin.

In response, he launched a four-year plan in January 1962, the basis of which was to increase agricultural production by forcing the nation's youths to work on the land.

Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin was jailed, and by the time of his release in November 1962, a one-party state had been established and the opposition press had been restricted.

In 1963, convicted murderer Christophe Bokhiri was released from prison, prompting riots around the country, but the focus of the rioting soon shifted toward Maga's problems as president.

The riots became so serious that the Chief of Staff of the Dahomeyan Army, Christophe Soglo, took control of the country in October to prevent a civil war.

After forcing Maga to resign, Soglo gave him, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and vice president Sourou Migan Apithy, the titles of Minister of State.

Shortly afterwards, Maga was convicted of plotting to assassinate Soglo and of corruption, for which he was incarcerated.

Following his release in 1965, he took refuge in Togo before moving to Paris.

In 1970, he returned to Dahomey to serve as head of a rotating three-man presidential council, which included Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin and Apithy.

On October 26, 1972, Mathieu Kérékou was installed by a coup, overthrowing then-chairman Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin.

Maga and the other members of the council were imprisoned until 1981.

Maga retired from public life after his release, only making an appearance at the National Conference of 1990, which gave amnesty to all Beninese political refugees.

He died on May 8, 2000.