Nigeria And Ethnic Politics

During the colonial
days, students and public servants in Nigeria prided themselves as Nigerians within and outside the country. As citizens and leaders, they saw every parts of Nigeria as their constituency. They thought less or nothing about their ethnic groups. There was visible evidence of unity and oneness among the people of Nigeria back in those days.
According to Chinua Achebe in his book, “The Trouble with Nigeria”, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba students of different religious extractions lived in the same rooms without any record of skirmish.
In the political realm, the founding nationalists were able to trail-blaze through tremendous achievements because of their cross-ethnic alliances and emphasis on those things that united the country. That was why the struggle for the independent state of Nigeria successfully brought together the likes of Sarduana of Sokoto, Amadu Bello, Zik of Africa, Ejike Mbonu, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa Obafemi Awolowo, Herbert Macaulay and so many others from different ethnic groups. They knew only one Nigeria and emphasised only one indivisible and united Nigeria.
This was glowingly visible in their character and attitudes. They were known everywhere as Nigerians.  Today, the story is different. If you ask a Nigerian who he is, he is fast at telling you that he comes from the North or West or that he is Igbo or Yoruba or Hausa. Tribe is now the only basis for getting things in Nigeria and it is breaking the social chord and fabric of our national life.
This cankerworm was first noticed in 1950s when Awolowo resorted to tribe to check his then staunch rival, (Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe) in the Western House of Assembly. The great Zik was sent back to the South Eastern Assembly where he “Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe” also in the same manner, stole a mandate already won by “Prof Eyo Ita” in 1951.
Since then, ethnicity has been rearing its ugly head in our polity and every aspect of our lives such that today Nigeria has become an ethnic State with plethora of ethnic jingoists as citizens and leaders.
Most of the problems affecting the Nigerian State today is reasonably as a result of ethnic chauvinism; the Niger Delta militants in the South South, the Boko Haram in the North East, the Biafran agitators in the South East, the OPC uprising in the South West etc These chauvinist groups employ all kinds of sophism to pull the wool over the eyes of their gullible constituents in attempt to make them believe that their constituency is either marginalized, short-changed or behind in the scheme of affairs in Nigeria.
This implies that the best way now to get what you want in Nigeria is to create one dissident or violent group and the next moment, government will invite your group for talk, negotiation, amnesty and possible settlement. This is not the best way to go because it is capable of turning Nigerian State into a breeding group for all manner of mischiefs.
Even our electoral process is not spared of ethnicity. Hardly will any politician go through election in this  country without invoking ethnicity. This was obvious in the last general election in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari won in almost all the northern states, while former President Goodluck Jonathan cleared all the   South East and South South votes.
This development is not good for our democracy and development. We need to remind ourselves that patriotism, unity of purpose, truth and good vision are what we need to build the country of our dream.
Desmond writes from Port Harcourt.

Nwokoror Desmond