Northern MPs sought the prime minister post in exchange for supporting Osman in 1967

Evidence

Awil Haji Abdillahi (Anthony James) visited President Osman and urged him to appoint a Northerner as prime minister to win the votes of MPs from that region. Here is how Osman represented the conversation: “Received the Hon. Awil Haji Abdullahi, alias Anthony James, ex-Finance Minister from the government of Abdirazak [Hussen]. The Somaliland residents, according to him, want the post of Prime Minister after the upcoming election of head of state, and thus they will support whoever assures them that post. He added that it is said that I am not disposed towards satisfying them in that sense. I told him that everything will be discussed at the proper time but that in any case it is not my character to ‘bargain’ about questions of this type, and so much the less now since really I just want to free myself from this responsibility, if I am allowed to do what I desire most to do.” Osman, diary, April 3, 1967. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1464