<P> The first test of the party came in the 1951 election . The party won majority votes in the Eastern Region of Nigeria's House of Assembly but became the opposition in the western region with Azikiwe as the opposition leader representing Lagos . Although the Action Group (AG) won a plurality of the votes in the election, its prospects were uncertain as the NCNC could have secured a majority if it had been able to persuade the third party, which was an Ibadan community party and which had been viewed by the NCNC as its ally, to support it . This it was not able to achieve and the AG therefore formed the government amid accusations of carpet - crossing by Azikiwe and his NCNC . This event is still viewed by some historiographers as the beginning of ethnic politics in Nigeria. Azikiwe later on became the Premier of Eastern Region, Nigeria in 1954 . </P> <P> During a national conference in 1954, the party opposed a call to include the right of secession--a stance which was later exploited by the North and the West to deny the East the right to secede in the Nigerian Civil War . It had argued that the country was not a league of forced nations and it would be ruinous to include such right . The policies of the party, from its inception favored a countenance of determined expression for self - government and nationalism . The major aims of the party taken on subsequent campaigns at home and abroad were as follows . </P> <Ul> <Li> The extension of democratic principles and advancement of the interest of the people of Nigeria and Cameroons under British mandate . </Li> <Li> The impartings of political education to the people of Nigeria in order to prepare them for self - government . </Li> <Li> The provision of medium of expression for members of NCNC through which they would endeavor to secure for Nigeria and the Cameroons, political freedom, social equality, religious toleration and economic activity . </Li> </Ul> <Li> The extension of democratic principles and advancement of the interest of the people of Nigeria and Cameroons under British mandate . </Li>

Which two political parties in nigeria evolved as ethnic cultural organization