"To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done"

Ethnicity is usually used to define a group of persons sharing a common cultural heritage. It is made by common history, environment, territory, language, customs, habits, believes, in short, by a common way of life. Tribe is simply an ethnic sub-set within which all or most human activities are organized on the basis of kinship. Religion has so many definition but I will used an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a God or a group of gods.

Nigeria as we have it today is a result of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria by the British.  According to Dr. Ochonu (Professor of African History at Vanderbilt University)  “The amalgamation was an act of colonial convenience. It occurred mainly because British colonizers desired a contiguous colonial territory stretching from the arid Sahel to the Atlantic Coast, and because Northern Nigeria, one of the merging units, was not paying its way while Southern Nigeria, the other British colony, generated revenue in excess of its administrative expenses. It made practical administrative sense to have one coherent British colony rather than two. It also made sense to merge a revenue-challenged colonial territory with a prosperous colonial neighbor, so the latter can subsidize the former.”

Northern Nigeria

Divided into 3geopolitical blocks (NW, NE &NC) are mostly Muslim. It includes States from the Sokoto Caliphate, Kano Emirate and Bornu Empire. The ethical diversity is very minimal especially because of the strong influence of Islam as a way of life.

Southern Nigeria

Divided into 3geopolitical blocks (SW, SE & SS) are mostly Christians. It includes the Lagos Colony, Oyo Empire, Kingdom of Benin, Oil Rivers Protectorate (Niger Coast Protectorate) & parts of the Royal Niger Company. The social political influence is mostly western and traditional African.

Religious and Ethnic crisis is not new to Nigeria. Before the amalgamation, the different states and ethnic groups that make up Nigeria have had various tribal wars and in some cases inter-ethnic wars like when Sokoto Caliphate went to war against Yoruba.  The most recent example of tribal war was the Ife-Modakeke war in 2000 which was the 7^th and most brutal since 1835. From my findings, the tribal wars are dated far back in history and if any still occur it’s just a fragment of what used to be a full scale war in the 18^th -19^th century. Some of the tribal wars that took place in Nigeria are:

•  Aro-Ibibio wars which occurred in South East Nigeria which led to the establishment of the Arochukwu Kingdom.  
• The battle was between the Aro people and Ibibio.
• The Fulani/Hausa war that led to the establishment of Sokoto Caliphate and Kano Emirate by Usman Dan Fodio (1804-1808).
• Kiriji war fought by the Yoruba’s for 16years is the longest civil war by any ethnic group (1870 -1886).

1960 -1966

Series of events show that the inter-ethnic conflict in Nigeria was very prominent during this period.

The political parties where from across ethnic lines:

• Northern People’s Congress (NPC) the party was formed by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello in 1949.
• National Council of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC) the party was formed by Nnamdi Azikwe and Herbert Marcaulay in 1944. Although the party is said to be Nationalistic, the leadership was dominated by Igbo’s and a few yoruba’s
• Action Group (AG) the party was formed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1951.

One thing to note here is that at some point, the NCNC formed an Alliance with the northern dominated party NPC to set up a conservative coalition. The AG ended up becoming the 1^st opposition party since independence.  Later on, Ladoke Akintola formed a pro-government party called Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1964 after he broke away from Awolowo’s AG because of his refusal to form an alliance with NPC. Abubakar Tafabalwa was the first Nigerian Prime Minister while Nnamdi Azikwe was the ceremonial president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

1966 – 1967

Nigeria saw its 1st coup which was carried out by the rebel Southern Nigeria soldiers led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu with the support of Major Don Okafor, Major Humphrey Chukwuka, Major Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Timoty Onwuatuegwu, Major Chris Anufor & Major Adewale Ademoyega. This coup led to the assassination of Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Ladoke Akintola, Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, Col Ralph Sodehinde, Lt Col James Pam, Lt Col Abogo Largema, Col Kur Mohammed, Festus Okotie Eboh, Brig. Zakariya Maimalari  and the only Igbo Lt Col Arthur Unegbe who was killed because of his closeness to Brig Mailari  and to prevent him from raising alarm. In summary this was a predominantly an Igbo led coup that wiped out the top politicians in the Northern and Western Nigeria.

The next phase which led to the 2^nd coup was trigger by the fact that none of the high profile casualties from the 1^st coup were Igbo and also because the main beneficiaries of the coup were Igbo. This led to the death of Aguyi Ironsi and Adekunle Fajuyi by a coup led by Theophilus Danjuma in Ibadan. This counter coup led to the installation of Lt Col Yakubu Gown as Head of State because of his good reputation in the army, a Christian and he is from a seemingly neutral minority Northern tribe.

Biafra War (1967 -1970)

After various disagreements over the Aburi meeting in Ghana, civil war broke out on 6^th July 1967 after Ojukwu declared Biafran secession on May 30, 1967. On July 1st 1967, Gowon, revoked the appointment of Ojukwu as Military Governor of the East Central State. Five days later the war broke out after Ojukwu was dismissed from the army. The war was between the then Eastern Region of Nigeria and the rest of the country.  The Eastern Region declared itself an independent state which was regarded as an act of secession by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria.  The war was fought to reunify the country. In order to understand what led to the civil war, it is necessary to give a brief background history of Nigeria.  

  "The world knows how hard we strove to avoid the civil war. Our objectives in fighting the war to crush Ojukwu’s rebellion were always clear. We desired to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Nigeria. For as one country we would be able to maintain lasting peace amongst our various communities; achieve rapid economic development to improve the lot of our people; guarantee a dignified future and respect in the world for our prosperity and contribute to African unity and modernization. On the other hand, the small successor states in a disintegrated Nigeria would be victims of perpetual war and misery and neo-colonialism. Our duty was clear. And we are, today, vindicated.” - Yakubu Gowon

“On our side, we fought the war with great caution, not in anger or hatred, but always in the hope that common sense would prevail. Many times we sought a negotiated settlement, not out of weakness, but in order to minimize the problems of reintegration, reconciliation, and reconstruction. We knew that however the war ended, in the battlefield, or in the conference room, our brothers fighting under other colours must rejoin us and that we must together rebuild the nation anew.” - Yakubu Gowon

“I have learned a word from the British, which is “sorry”! That’s how I want to respond to your question. I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Igbos. Sorry! The End” - Brig Benjamin Adekunle (The Black Scorpion) 

“I regret the disabilities of the war. It was a choice: it was either to become a slave of the Hausas in that time, or to do what we did. And up till tomorrow, whenever I’m given the opportunity to choose, I’ll reject slavery.” – Odumegwu Ojukwu

“It is only those who have not been involved in a war that will always push war as the first solution to any problem. War does not solve, it cowers but the problem remains.” - Odumegwu Ojukwu

FACTS:

A) If you  are born in say New York, when asked where you are from you say the US. Meanwhile, you are born in Ado Ekiti but your dad is from Abakaliki, when asked where you are from you quickly say Abakaliki.

B) You find it easy to celebrate Nigerians in diaspora contesting for office but you won’t let a fulani man run for reps in Onitsha or Ijebu man run for LG in Kano.

C) Why do Nigerians in diaspora especially the migrants refer to Nigerians as "you people"? I find it very very annoying sha.

D) We all love Suya, Nkwobi, Isi ewu, Ponded Yam & Egusi, efo riro …foods that come from various tribes.

E) When we decide to dwell on the physical we love the curves of the Calabar woman, the beauty of the Fulani woman and the finesse of the Yoruba babe.

F) You hardly find a NE/NW getting married to a SS/SE
G) Our music cuts across ethnic barriers. Thats why we can have Phyno, Ice Prince & Olamide on the same stage. 

The truth is no ethnic group is superior to the rest. We need to learn to co-exist in peace and put the past behind us. Every ethnic group has experienced their own share of oppression by another ethnic group. The real history of the Native Americans and Australians compared to their level of development now is an example that we can put all these ethnic beef behind us to build our Nation.