*
*By Nicodemus Jethro*
"The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain…” they said
Are we talking about our ancestors whose lives were sacrificed for the unity of this country or the ones that divided us?
Akin Osunkokun, a former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, and one-time presidential adviser, gave the historical background of tribalism in Nigeria
The man who introduced federalism as a form of governance reverted to the game we are playing in Nigeria today, which is tribalism, quite different from federalism. Awolowo felt, as the strongman of the Yoruba, Azikiwe should not have won the election in his place, and the victory was stopped only because he was an Igbo man, and he could not countenance an Igbo man coming to be the premier or the first minister or prime minister of a predominantly Yoruba region. Night came, and when day broke, Zik discovered his majority had collapsed. The Yoruba abandoned him and went to a strange person they did not know ideologically, that is Awolowo, on the basis of tribe.
At that time, Britain were told Nigeria had over 250 tribes but that we could not dissect Nigeria into 250 nations. They asked them that what has happened in Western Nigeria where an Igbo man was rejected. Zik who was the then Nigeria leader, having won the election, in a predominantly Yoruba region, because the Yoruba were extremely powerful and they voted on the basis of ideological orientation. Zik’s party produced a Zik premiership in Western Nigeria and in the night, Awolowo went round to convince the Yoruba, saying that, 'You are a tribe. Your tribe is called Yoruba. Zik’s tribe is called Igbo. Do not allow this to happen. Whether you like me or not, it is better to have a Yoruba man to rule over Yorubaland. Unfortunately, I feel this was the starting point of our problems.
Then, the military coup, what destroyed it, even if the boy’s (Kaduna Nzeogu) thinking was correct, the aftermath of the coup revealed exactly what I am talking about now. There was selective killing of only the political and military leadership from the north and few Yorubas were sacrificed for the unity of this country and until we are able to define our diversity and not superiority, true federalism will elude us and chaos will be sustained. We must realise that either by omission or commission, no ethnic nationality is innocent in these matters, so stop blaming any region for their contributions to the 6th July 1967 to 15th January 1970 Nigeria civil war better known as the Biafran war.
I urge Nigeria top government officials to give equal opportunity to the three regions to participate in the running of government and not being bias in their appointments. The present government should desist from the system Awolowo introduced which Nigeria is still battling with today and follow the provision of section 14(3) of the 1999 Nigeria constitution (as amended) in their appointments and allocation because everyone is born free and have certain inalienable rights which can best be preserved by themselves. The Niger Delta agitation is as a result of neglect and apathy on the part of the Federal Government which is partially responsible for an abysmal level of poverty and under development that is incomprehensible to those from other parts of Nigeria.
The negative impacts of oil exploition and lack of compensation for the irreplaceable exploitation of natural resources for several years that has made the region the hotbed of major hostilities between the Biafrans soldier(soldiers), the oil companies and the Nigerian government security force which has culminate in extra-judicial killings, indiscriminate arrests and detentions as well as ruthless restrictions on the fundamental human rights in section 33, 36(1), 39(2), 40 of 1999 constitution of Nigeria (as amended) which make the region call for resources sovereignty and the only way they achieve their aims is by secession or referendum where true federalism would be practice.
_*Nicodemus is a final year student of the College of Law, JABU.*_
*By Nicodemus Jethro*
"The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain…” they said
Are we talking about our ancestors whose lives were sacrificed for the unity of this country or the ones that divided us?
Akin Osunkokun, a former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, and one-time presidential adviser, gave the historical background of tribalism in Nigeria
The man who introduced federalism as a form of governance reverted to the game we are playing in Nigeria today, which is tribalism, quite different from federalism. Awolowo felt, as the strongman of the Yoruba, Azikiwe should not have won the election in his place, and the victory was stopped only because he was an Igbo man, and he could not countenance an Igbo man coming to be the premier or the first minister or prime minister of a predominantly Yoruba region. Night came, and when day broke, Zik discovered his majority had collapsed. The Yoruba abandoned him and went to a strange person they did not know ideologically, that is Awolowo, on the basis of tribe.
At that time, Britain were told Nigeria had over 250 tribes but that we could not dissect Nigeria into 250 nations. They asked them that what has happened in Western Nigeria where an Igbo man was rejected. Zik who was the then Nigeria leader, having won the election, in a predominantly Yoruba region, because the Yoruba were extremely powerful and they voted on the basis of ideological orientation. Zik’s party produced a Zik premiership in Western Nigeria and in the night, Awolowo went round to convince the Yoruba, saying that, 'You are a tribe. Your tribe is called Yoruba. Zik’s tribe is called Igbo. Do not allow this to happen. Whether you like me or not, it is better to have a Yoruba man to rule over Yorubaland. Unfortunately, I feel this was the starting point of our problems.
Then, the military coup, what destroyed it, even if the boy’s (Kaduna Nzeogu) thinking was correct, the aftermath of the coup revealed exactly what I am talking about now. There was selective killing of only the political and military leadership from the north and few Yorubas were sacrificed for the unity of this country and until we are able to define our diversity and not superiority, true federalism will elude us and chaos will be sustained. We must realise that either by omission or commission, no ethnic nationality is innocent in these matters, so stop blaming any region for their contributions to the 6th July 1967 to 15th January 1970 Nigeria civil war better known as the Biafran war.
I urge Nigeria top government officials to give equal opportunity to the three regions to participate in the running of government and not being bias in their appointments. The present government should desist from the system Awolowo introduced which Nigeria is still battling with today and follow the provision of section 14(3) of the 1999 Nigeria constitution (as amended) in their appointments and allocation because everyone is born free and have certain inalienable rights which can best be preserved by themselves. The Niger Delta agitation is as a result of neglect and apathy on the part of the Federal Government which is partially responsible for an abysmal level of poverty and under development that is incomprehensible to those from other parts of Nigeria.
The negative impacts of oil exploition and lack of compensation for the irreplaceable exploitation of natural resources for several years that has made the region the hotbed of major hostilities between the Biafrans soldier(soldiers), the oil companies and the Nigerian government security force which has culminate in extra-judicial killings, indiscriminate arrests and detentions as well as ruthless restrictions on the fundamental human rights in section 33, 36(1), 39(2), 40 of 1999 constitution of Nigeria (as amended) which make the region call for resources sovereignty and the only way they achieve their aims is by secession or referendum where true federalism would be practice.
_*Nicodemus is a final year student of the College of Law, JABU.*_