Hubert Maga

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Lore & Background

Hubert 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. 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 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. Following his election to the Dahomey General Council in 1947, Maga resigned his teaching post. He subsequently became vice president of the assembly until his resignation in 1957. Roger Peperty, the French chef de cercle of Natitingou and a close acquaintance, encouraged Maga to form an alliance among northerners in early 1949. Peperty wrote in a political report later that year: 'I have suggested to Maga that he constitute a separate group with his Northerners. He liked the idea ... Later I repeated the question. It seems again possible that Mr. Maga might constitute the group in question.' The party was to become the Groupement Ethnique de Nord (Northern Ethnic Group). Maga, in an April 1968 interview, denied that Peperty ever played a part in the establishment. He claimed that he and his friends came up with the idea. In the legislative elections of June 17, 1951, when Dahomey was allowed an additional representative in the French National Assembly, Maga ran for that office. Capitalising on growing cynicism regarding southern Dahomey dominating the French colony's politics, he allied himself with the northern tribes. Apithy was reelected a deputy with 53,463 votes out of 147,350 cast, while Maga captured the second seat with 49,329 and third candidate Emile Derlin Zinsou received a mere 18,410 ballots. Only 0.5 percent of Maga's votes came from the coastal region, while 98 percent came from northern towns and villages. The 1951 election has been cited as when regionalist parties arose, and it was the first whose pamphlets mentioned ethnicity. In Paris, Maga affiliated himself with the Overseas Independents, a political organization led by Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal. He was named the secretary of the Finance Committee, a member of the committee on national education, and a member of the committee on parliamentary privileges. During his first term in the Assembly, he accomplished little apart from proposing a bill on May 13, 1954, that concerned the election of counselors of the Republic from its overseas territories and Trust Territories. With the support of his new party, Maga ran for the renewal of his mandate at the legislative elections held on January 2, 1956. Standing for an 'active federalism within the French union', Maga chose Gaustin Gbaguidi as his running mate. Of the 179,119 votes cast, Maga won 60,601 and Apithy won 64,344. Later that year, he resigned from his position on the Grand Council of French West Africa. Shortly afterwards, Maga became a member of the committees on national education and on justice and legislation, and was named Secretary of the Assemblée on January 25, 1956. When Félix Gaillard became Prime Minister of France in November 1957, he appointed Maga to the position of Secretary of State of Labor, a post he served in until the end of the Gaillard ministry on April 15, 1958. Before the territorial elections of 1959, Maga agreed that the R.D.D. would field candidates only in the north of the country if in return Apithy's Republican Party of Dahomey (P.R.D.) ran only in the south. The result of the elections was that the P.R.D. received 37 seats with 144,038 votes, the R.D.D. received 22 seats with 62,132 votes, and Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin's Dahomey Democratic Union (U.D.D.) received 11 deputies for its 162,179 votes. What followed was described by Matthews as 'an immediate explosion'. Supporters of Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin took to the streets in rioting so severe that French soldiers were called in to restore order.

Reader's Guide

Hubert Maga's significance lies in his role as Dahomey's first president and his part in the country's regionalist politics, which shaped its early post-independence history. During Maga's term of office, Dahomey's economy collapsed; there was little foreign investment and unemployment rose. 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. 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. 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.

Did You Know?

• Maga claimed he was a descendant of the Kingdom of Bourgou's royal family.
• In the 1951 legislative election, 98 percent of Maga's votes came from northern towns and villages, while only 0.5 percent came from the coastal region.
• Maga was appointed Secretary of State of Labor by French Prime Minister Félix Gaillard in November 1957, serving until April 15, 1958.
• During Maga's presidency, a failed assassination plot against him in May 1961 was led by main opposition leader Justin Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin.
• After being forced to resign in 1963, Maga was convicted of plotting to assassinate Christophe Soglo and of corruption, for which he was incarcerated.