In 1914, the British colonial masters in their bid to control the administration of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of their colonies decided to amalgamate the two of them. In doing this, the British did not take into consideration the fact that these two different nation-states were not compatible. However, because of their ultimate motive of mere administrative convenience and to advance their purpose of mastering the mass of people, they did not care one bit about the compatibility of the two different people. They went ahead to name the two nations Nigeria and insisted they were one. In spite of the forced marriage, the two nation-states remain till this day but only now fragmented into different nationalities and today Nigeria is about 6 countries forced into one confused nation.
By 1960 when the British handed over power to us at Independence, we had dissolved into three different nations and they handed over power to an abstract entity called Nigeria but the real power was in the hands of the Northern Protectorate under the guidance of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. He was a mere paper leader but the real leader of Nigeria was the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The other nations in the arrangement were the Oduduwa led by Sir Michael Akintola with an emissary in the person of Obafemi Awolowo. Biafra was another nation which was led by Sir Michael Okpala but had a paper tiger at the center in the person of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. This arrangement subsisted with many crisis for only six years. Obviously, these nations pretending to be Nigeria could not co-exist very well. At the dawn of independence, there were crisis in the West which we now refer to as the "Wild Wild West". The Tiv riots in the early 60s was also an evidence of a forced marriage between people of different destinies.
In 1966, a set of military boys staged a coup and what happened was like an ethnic cleansing. They wiped out the leaders of the North and the West and left their own leaders in the East. Can you now see what I mean? Three nations co-existing as one. One decided to overturn the table and left their own leaders alive. There was nothing nationalistic and patriotic about the 1966 coup. It was just one of the nations trying to outwit the others after it felt there was an imbalance in the sharing of power between the North, West and East of the contraption called Nigeria.
What followed the 1966 coup was not funny. The Igbo leader who took over after his kinsmen had eliminated politicians from the North and some from the West could not hold the country together. He formed a unitary government which broke down in six months as he had no serious command in the Army. The northern military elements staged a come-back and wrestled power and handed it over to a so-called neutral person in General Yakubu Gowon. Another disgruntled group in the military led by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu disagreed with this arrangement and gradually a revolt resulted and what we had was a 30 month Civil War that claimed the lives of more than 1 million people with the Igbos who decided to secede suffering the highest casualty.
In 1970 when Biafra surrendered to the Federal military might led by General Gowon, he declared "no victor, vanguish" and since then it has been a ding dong affair. The North held on to power for the next 9 years through Gowon; Murtala extended it for 6 months and their stooge - General Olusegun Obasanjo held it in trust for 3 and half years and handed it back to them in 1979 with Alhaji Shehu Shagari becoming a civilian President. Buhari stepped in - 1983 and General Ibrahim Babangida held on from 1985 to 1993. When it looked like the Federation was going to get better with Chief MKO Abiola heading for victory after the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections, acclaimed to be the freest and the fairest elections in our history, the elements in the North stepped up their game and helped to annul the election and General Sani Abacha came in with huge brutality. He died 5 years later and it was again a northern leader in the person of General Abdulsalami Abubakar that stepped in even though for a short-lived period of 11 months.
The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a creation of the North through General Ibrahim Babangida who felt there was a need to right the wrong of the June 12 election failure. But as it turned out, Olusegun Obasanjo of 1979 was no longer the same man in 1999. He had wizened up and he was determined to balance things out. But the North would have none of it! That was where trouble started. He was opposed at every point and when he eventually bowed out in 2007, the nation was already at its tittered edge. His nomination of Yar'Adua for presidency did not pacify the North because they felt he was a sick man and that Goodluck Jonathan was positioned naturally to step in. Fine, Goodluck eventually became the President but not after there was hell on all fronts about the Presidency being the turn of the North.
Many of the politicians who felt the North was cheated even went as far as saying they will make the country ungovernable. Is that not what is happening via the Boko Haram bombings now?
THE VERDICT:
For nearly a hundred years, we have tried to force ourselves to live together. The mistake is way back to 1914. Can we now see why we can't seem to work well as a nation? This faulty foundation gave birth to the unbridled corruption in the system. The reason is this: we are not citizens but indigenes of regions. Citizens contribute but indigenes claim rights. We see ourselves as Igbo, Idoma, Igala, Yoruba and Hausa before we are Nigerians. Distrust is deep within our fiber. As a Christian, its simple to add that two cannot walk together except they agree... Amos 3:3.
Where are we in agreement as a people? I can't see any from the North to the South.
Refer to my last blog of December, 2012. It is time to gradually get this region called Nigeria into its proper place. In my subsequent blog, I will begin to discuss the variables that will help us navigate into our different nation-states within the Nigerian landscape and foster more purposeful development. Enough to the mindless wastes of precious human lives. People should die for a reasonable purpose and not for NOTHING.
Keep in touch with me.
By 1960 when the British handed over power to us at Independence, we had dissolved into three different nations and they handed over power to an abstract entity called Nigeria but the real power was in the hands of the Northern Protectorate under the guidance of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. He was a mere paper leader but the real leader of Nigeria was the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The other nations in the arrangement were the Oduduwa led by Sir Michael Akintola with an emissary in the person of Obafemi Awolowo. Biafra was another nation which was led by Sir Michael Okpala but had a paper tiger at the center in the person of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. This arrangement subsisted with many crisis for only six years. Obviously, these nations pretending to be Nigeria could not co-exist very well. At the dawn of independence, there were crisis in the West which we now refer to as the "Wild Wild West". The Tiv riots in the early 60s was also an evidence of a forced marriage between people of different destinies.
In 1966, a set of military boys staged a coup and what happened was like an ethnic cleansing. They wiped out the leaders of the North and the West and left their own leaders in the East. Can you now see what I mean? Three nations co-existing as one. One decided to overturn the table and left their own leaders alive. There was nothing nationalistic and patriotic about the 1966 coup. It was just one of the nations trying to outwit the others after it felt there was an imbalance in the sharing of power between the North, West and East of the contraption called Nigeria.
What followed the 1966 coup was not funny. The Igbo leader who took over after his kinsmen had eliminated politicians from the North and some from the West could not hold the country together. He formed a unitary government which broke down in six months as he had no serious command in the Army. The northern military elements staged a come-back and wrestled power and handed it over to a so-called neutral person in General Yakubu Gowon. Another disgruntled group in the military led by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu disagreed with this arrangement and gradually a revolt resulted and what we had was a 30 month Civil War that claimed the lives of more than 1 million people with the Igbos who decided to secede suffering the highest casualty.
In 1970 when Biafra surrendered to the Federal military might led by General Gowon, he declared "no victor, vanguish" and since then it has been a ding dong affair. The North held on to power for the next 9 years through Gowon; Murtala extended it for 6 months and their stooge - General Olusegun Obasanjo held it in trust for 3 and half years and handed it back to them in 1979 with Alhaji Shehu Shagari becoming a civilian President. Buhari stepped in - 1983 and General Ibrahim Babangida held on from 1985 to 1993. When it looked like the Federation was going to get better with Chief MKO Abiola heading for victory after the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections, acclaimed to be the freest and the fairest elections in our history, the elements in the North stepped up their game and helped to annul the election and General Sani Abacha came in with huge brutality. He died 5 years later and it was again a northern leader in the person of General Abdulsalami Abubakar that stepped in even though for a short-lived period of 11 months.
The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a creation of the North through General Ibrahim Babangida who felt there was a need to right the wrong of the June 12 election failure. But as it turned out, Olusegun Obasanjo of 1979 was no longer the same man in 1999. He had wizened up and he was determined to balance things out. But the North would have none of it! That was where trouble started. He was opposed at every point and when he eventually bowed out in 2007, the nation was already at its tittered edge. His nomination of Yar'Adua for presidency did not pacify the North because they felt he was a sick man and that Goodluck Jonathan was positioned naturally to step in. Fine, Goodluck eventually became the President but not after there was hell on all fronts about the Presidency being the turn of the North.
Many of the politicians who felt the North was cheated even went as far as saying they will make the country ungovernable. Is that not what is happening via the Boko Haram bombings now?
THE VERDICT:
For nearly a hundred years, we have tried to force ourselves to live together. The mistake is way back to 1914. Can we now see why we can't seem to work well as a nation? This faulty foundation gave birth to the unbridled corruption in the system. The reason is this: we are not citizens but indigenes of regions. Citizens contribute but indigenes claim rights. We see ourselves as Igbo, Idoma, Igala, Yoruba and Hausa before we are Nigerians. Distrust is deep within our fiber. As a Christian, its simple to add that two cannot walk together except they agree... Amos 3:3.
Where are we in agreement as a people? I can't see any from the North to the South.
Refer to my last blog of December, 2012. It is time to gradually get this region called Nigeria into its proper place. In my subsequent blog, I will begin to discuss the variables that will help us navigate into our different nation-states within the Nigerian landscape and foster more purposeful development. Enough to the mindless wastes of precious human lives. People should die for a reasonable purpose and not for NOTHING.
Keep in touch with me.
