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 7th 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 18th -19th
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 1st 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 2nd coup was
trigger by the fact that none of the high profile casualties from the 1st
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 6th 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” -
“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.
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.
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