![If 1 (Nigerian) + x = tribalist, find x. [2]](https://static.ucraft.net/fs/ucraft/userFiles/borg/images/a-62-10-001.jpg?v=1601995188)
This is the final part of the series on - A Short History of Tribal Stereotypes in Nigeria. You can read the first part here
Ideas.memo | Ilamosi Ekenimoh
War is Peace
Tribalism: /noun/ the state of existing as a separate tribe or tribes
On January 15 1966, Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emanuel Ifeajuna began a two-day military coup that, eventually. brought Major General Aguyi Ironsi into power. The coup, led by mainly Eastern Soldiers in select places all over the country, resulted in the death of 22 persons, including; Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, the Sardana of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello. No Eastern Igbos died during the coup, a fact that triggered speculation that rationale for the coup was to achieve ethnic, not political domination.
On July 27 1996, another coup led by Col. Murtala Mohammed and many other Northern officials, resulting in the death of Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the appointment of Lt Col. Yakubu Gowon. Lt. Col Odumegwu Ojukwu announced the Igbo secession from Nigeria with the Declaration of the Republic of Biafra, which led to a civil war.
But this is a very simplistic take on a very complex issue. Between the coups and the civil war, there was the struggle to control oil resources within the Eastern part of Nigeria, the Aburi accord and its subsequent breakdown, the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom, the failure of the national reconciliation committee, the division of the Eastern region into three states, which put the Igbos who were predominantly located in the East-Central state, without control of the majority of oil resources located in the other two states.
The war raged for years, with ammunition and aid from foreign actors competing over political and natural resources within the country, the price for which was lives of Nigerians on both sides of the divide. One of the many undiscussed casualties of the war are the minorities that lived in Eastern Nigeria.
According to Elizabeth Bird and Fraser Ottanelli, the atrocities committed against the residents of Asaba in present-day Delta state might be the glue that holds the Delta-Igbo conflict together till present day. And the lumping of minorities into the majority ethnic tribe within the Eastern region gave hope to the stereotype of the major ethnicities.
There is a common perception that people from Eastern Nigeria, particularly Igbo people, see themselves as perpetual victims in the story that is Nigeria. To deny this is to deny history, as no other ethnicity has faced as much death, denial of opportunity and discrimination within the country on the basis of their tribe alone. And much of this prejudice is directly traceable to the civil war.
A friend who worked with the government at the time had advised him to stop using his Igbo name on the contract documents as Igbo people were not awarded contracts.
In discussing the casualties as regards the major ethnic group involved, there is no contention that of all the tribes, they must bear the scars of the war; culturally, financially, proprietarily, and popularly during and after the war.
Even before the war, on February 26, 1965, the Provisional Council of the University of Lagos announced its decision to replace Vice-Chancellor Dr Eni-Njoku, despite the fact he was eligible and unanimously recommended by the University Senate for reappointment, and was widely believed to be the architect of the University’s growth in its first three years; attracting grants, and fostering an enabling learning environment, with an emphasis on academic excellence. His only disqualification seemed to be his ethnicity and political affiliations, none of which had affected his first tenure.
There are those who will concede that Igbos face discrimination, but only as a thing of the past. Miss Favour ‘U’, interviewed for this article, explained how her father dropped their family name years ago and stopped his children from using our tribal names in school or in public.
A friend who worked with the government at the time had advised him to stop using his Igbo name on the contract documents as Igbo people were not awarded contracts. Once he changed his name, he began to secure contracts. In 2020, Favour does not use her native name in any of her official documents. Neither do her siblings.
In 2017, a coalition of northern youth groups issued the ‘Kaduna Declaration’ a provocative ‘quit notice’ for all Igbo persons to leave every part of northern Nigeria by October 1, 2017, or face a ‘mop-up’. In justifying the attacks, a news house blamed Igbos for their continuous complaints of being marginalised, the Biafran war, and the emergence of groups such as Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) failing to recognise that these groups are not representative of all Igbo persons. In their own words, ‘if you must blame the hawk for wickedness, first blame the mother hen for exposing her child to danger’. A logic which at its best is shaky.
The end of the civil war marked the end of the First Republic and the start of a new era of national integration. Between 1967-1991, 36 states were created from the three regions. The Federal government made deliberate efforts to bolster a sense of unity in the country: placing emphasis on the national anthem and creating Unity Museums in the three major regions, with relics focusing on similar and unifying cultural practices amongst tribes all over Nigeria.
A second prong of the policy was the creation of Unity Schools or Federal Government Colleges, and from the accounts of former students admitted within the first 10 years of their creation, the schools were a huge success—largely tribalism free, almost neutral zones. One published account reads,
I shared dormitories, ate at the same tables, and played pranks with classmates from various ethnic groups. I discovered that not all Hausas concealed daggers to stab Igbos, in their underwear; not all Yoruba’s were cantankerous traitors. She records finally, that it was not until she applied to study at University, that this perception was again challenged.'
The government also created the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in 1973 to promote national unity among the Nigerian youth. The scheme has however suffered fatal blows, with insecurity in the country and decrepit facilities and living conditions.
The country has continued to make strides on paper to combat tribalism, at least on paper. The 1999 Constitution formally introduced the Federal Character Principle, requiring the government to reflect the ‘federal character’ of Nigeria in the conduct of its affairs—an attempt to thwart the efforts of the former regional premiers.
Unfortunately, the opportunity cost of the Federal Character Principle has been a greatly diminished meritocracy in government agencies and over-emphasis of ethnicity as a basis for government appointments. Coined in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, the principle has inadvertently ensured that tribalism, albeit ‘inclusive’, has a place in Nigeria’s working environments and consequently in the Nigerian mindset.
Certain events in more recent times have raised questions of tribal sentiment within the country, such as the president’s Sallah Message in Hausa and the removal of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen. Undercurrents of tribalism persist despite efforts to eradicate it, with Nigerians ready to play the tribalism card at any given opportunity.
Tribalism, Corruption and Nepotism walk into a bar…
Tribalism: /noun/ a form of structural fragmentation which once begins in the political realm, tends to occur in other realms of the forming national life
Larry Diamond has identified divisions between groups as cleavages. In his book, Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria: The Failure of the First Republic, Diamond theorizes that where successive conflicts fall repeatedly along the same broad lines, and continuously pit the same groups against each other, these conflicts converge to form a ‘mega cleavage’.
Religion in Nigeria is now an expression of tribalism: the North is predominantly Muslim, and the South and West are predominantly Christian. Muslims in the North don’t always acknowledge Muslims in the southern and eastern parts, and christianity in the east is predominantly Catholic, while in the west, its largely protestant /Pentecostal. Thus, to be in a particular (religion or religious denomination), more often than not, is to indicate what tribe you belong to.
Elections too, in Nigeria celebrate the triumph of tribal sentiments over stable political ideology—it is notoriously easy to stir tribal sentiments during elections periods. For example, Senator Oluremi Tinubu of Lagos State was overheard saying, ‘Igbos we no dey trust una again’ to a voter during a campaign season, after confirming that he was voting for her party’s presidential candidate in the 2018 elections.
This was after she promised a crowd of voters monetary rewards for seemingly voting for her party; ‘Show me your hand, get the money’. Her comments were not positively received, especially in light of the Oba of Lagos’ remarks in the previous election year. Tribalism is a classic strategy deployed by every ruling class seeking to dominate; divide and rule.
The media has always been able to shape the conscience of times and to reflect societal realities. One such of such reflections was a 1940s article published in the Nigerian Pilot titled; ‘Football Iliad: 1940 Edition’. A football team composed of students of the Christ the King College, Onitsha came to Lagos to play a Win the War Match against St Gregory’s College. The CKC team defeated St. Gregory’s team 5 goals to 4, which to the ordinary man, may not be anything extraordinary.
The author, however, saw this as evidence of the inherent superiority of Easterners over their opponents. He likened the team to Spartan heroes who had hurried across the domains of the Alake of Abeokuta, the Ooni of Ife and the ‘Atanla of Owo’ to stage an ‘invasion’ that, eventually, ended in triumph.
Indeed, some would argue that Nigeria’s problem is not tribalism, but corruption, a lack of infrastructure, or weak institutions. But tribalism, one could also argue, is the carcass upon which these issues all feed.
The Nigerian Pilot continued to feature headlines such as ‘Ibo man to sail to UK’ and ‘Ibo Medical Student Passes Exam in First Class Honours’. And whenever a non-Igbo person was mentioned in the headlines for an achievement, the newspaper simply identified them as ‘Nigerian’. But when the paper had bad news, to avoid confusion, it identified citizens by their specific tribe. Unsurprisingly, no Igbo person ever featured in this section of the paper.
The media continues to change and evolve, but the themes discussed in the news almost never change. Today, these discussions continue on social media. On the 4th of August, 2019, the FBI published a list of 80 Nigerians involved in internet or wire fraud. Majority of the names were from Eastern Nigeria, and headlines like Why You Can’t Judge the Igbo roared across the country.
Discussions on social media centred on how negative perceptions of Nigeria are influenced by criminal acts abroad; and to show that the actions of the few did not represent all Nigerians everywhere, #IgboYahooBoys was a top trending topic on Twitter in Nigeria. Within the same month, 23 Nigerians were convicted of drug smuggling in Saudi Arabia, the majority of them being from Western Nigeria, and #IgboYahooBoys found a colleague in #YorubaDrugDealers.
Indeed, some would argue that Nigeria’s problem is not tribalism, but corruption, a lack of infrastructure, or weak institutions. But tribalism, one could also argue, is the carcass upon which these issues all feed.
Tribalism in recent times is just as prevalent as it was in the past, if not more powerful. Many young Nigerians today understand the existence of tribalism, but don’t understand the reason for its existence. They can understand the history of it, but not the reasoning or benefits motivating it. This does not stop them, however, from being active participants in its propagation. The news is not all bad. There are as many young Nigerians who understand on the principle of it, that tribalism is bad, and a more select few understand that and are as much as possible, non-tribalists. So, progress, though slow is being made.
…And they lived Happily Ever After?
Tribalism: /noun/ a non-economically based type of social structure, usually associated with a high focus on personal individuality, close interpersonal relationships, an integration with the natural environment, and loose social hierarchy.
Tribalism remains a prevalent issue in Nigeria is because its seeds were long sown, its roots are deep grown, its branches provide shade for a lot of people, and it is fertilized and nurtured by those with keys to the garden. Everyone agrees that tribe is one of the things holding Nigeria back as a country, but no one wants to discuss why it is still a problem—and that is precisely why the problem persists.
That said, the federal government has made several deliberate attempts to bolster a sense of unity in the country since the end of the civil war. Between 1967-1991, 36 states were created from the three regions. The question, then, is if we cannot eradicate tribalism, how can we use tribal sentiments for the better? How can we flip the manuscript to create positive change? One grand idea is to take the poison and make it an antidote.
An offshoot of this idea is a rotational presidency; competition creates a better consumer experience. If the tribes in Nigeria are in constant competition anyway, a rotational presidency for every election cycle could mean the development of better policies and infrastructure, and a decentralisation of power.
Another suggestion is semi-autonomous regions/states, with reduced federal aid, and a decentralisation of power. Simultaneously removing the emphasis on oil-generated revenue, encouraging states to generate their own revenue, and diverting focus to the development of states, rather than seeking to wield the ring that controls all others: the presidency.
Another idea, which is an offshoot of the last, is that Nigeria adopts ‘true’ federalism. Independent states, having independent incomes, and independent governments and economies.
Yet none of these ‘solutions’ approach the problem at its fundamental, which requires understanding what motivates tribalism in the first place. Consider once more the equation ‘1 (Nigerian) + x = Tribalist. Find ‘x’’. the answer is that whether by nature or nurture, tribalism is ultimately a choice and thus ‘x’ in the equation represents choice. To be a tribalist, you simply must choose to be.
The narrators of Nigeria’s story are numerous, and the story continues to unfold. There is still the opportunity to decide how the tale goes, and as its many storytellers, the responsibility for making this decision rests with Nigerians. But while the end of this story is unclear, its moral is not: we must be careful not to inherit prejudices that are not our own.
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