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[Boxing Commentator Voice-Over]
...and in the left corner, with the biggest economy on one of the 7 continents, the most populous black nation on earth and still the giant of Africa; ladies and gentlemen, all the way from the magnificent West Coast, the creator of Alanta and Shoki, weighing in at 170 million citizens, I give you…Nigeria!!!
[The Crowd Goes Wild!]
What an entrance, what a republic!
This ballad of praises sounds much like the introduction of one of the many great chiefs of Igbo land, “Ichie ego kali ego, Onye di n’ísi njedebe, Agu ne li anu ewu-1, Importer/Exporter”. In English, “The chief of too much money, The one who is always ahead, The lion that eats goat meat…and the last bit you already know; Importer/Exporter Koko water”. Nigeria is a country blessed with many things, top of which is her diverse people; we are as numerous as there are types of meat in a Yoruba soup: ‘eron, pomo, shaki, roundabout, tozo…’ the list goes on. Sadly however, despite our glorious introduction, it is heart-breaking to know that within our boarders we are not as tightly bound as the cows in a Hausa man’s heard. We do not see ourselves as one flock; some think they are sheep while others think they are ram. Newsflash, we are one and the same; soft, tasty mutton (meat)!
If there is one thing that I have learnt from the March 2015 elections, it is that Nigeria is divided, sentimentally if you will, along certain lines; religious and tribal being at the fore burner. I remember seeing a post on the internet during that period stating that 'hand me down' tribalism is still pervasive in our country today. This claim was certified for me by some seemingly isolated events, least of which were the mass exodus of southerners from the north, the Oba of Lagos’ inciting statements and the mass exodus of northerners from the south. At a critical point in our history as a nation such as this, we must honestly ask ourselves if we are truly a united sovereignty or if we are simply a superficially glued block of lego. Let us not shy away from speaking of this rather sensitive issue because whether or not we talk about it, the reality on ground is eating away at our unity, our peace and our potential progress.
The problem of sectarian prejudice did not just begin today, its origin stretches as far back as our independence era (may be even further) and in my opinion the lack of proper reconciliation and even more so, the poor level of education on the events of years passed have allowed the sores of division to fester. Why else would people who traded in salt, cowries and linen long before the coming of colonialism suddenly become frenemies, requiring laws as petty as Federal Character to maintain a fragile peace? Now, still taking a peek down memory lane, we will realize that Nigeria has had 5 successful, 2 abortive, 1 attempted and 3 alleged coups since 1960; making 11 in total! The first coup, led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu now labelled the ‘Igbo Coup’, led to the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello (The Sadauna of Sokoto), Chief S.I Akintola (The Premiere of the Western Region) amongst others while Major General JTU Aguyi-Ironsi was sworn in as The Military Head of State. The second coup, following just 6 months after, was a counter and retaliatory ‘Northern Action’ that saw Aguyi-Ironsi along with Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi (The Military Governor of the Western Region) deposed and eliminated. The rest, to be concise, is history.
I have heard and read various accounts of the reasons for Major Nzeogwu’s coup d’etat and most are centered around the fact that the politicians back then - much like today - were corrupt and were running the country to the ground - ah, so no be today politicians dia wahala start. Unfortunately however, the coup was poorly executed in certain parts of the country and there were strong allegations of tribalism. This, in my opinion, is the single most significant cause of the cracks in our oneness. Again, I am of the opinion that if there had been no bloodshed in that first coup, the cracks in our glasshouse today would have been far less severe.
Now, I cannot say that I hold the youth of today or even the adults (the youth of yesterday) completely responsible for whatever biases they may hold. I say this because most of them have long since been washed and set in ideologies such as “Hmm, so and so people are wicked, so and so people are dirty, those ones are noisy and can’t even cook, all the people from that area are witches and so on and so forth”. It is akin to the way school children are hypnotized into taking the sound of a bell as law, so much so that long after graduating, the ding-a-ling of a bell subconsciously either makes them stand still, start to move or even glance around frantically for fear of being whipped. The negative stereotypes that people imbibe are ‘dings-’ and if ‘a-ling’ come the people that they have learnt to hate, they will surely act out; as a bell once swung must complete its ring. Prolonged exposure to brainwashing is terribly difficult to overcome even with conscious efforts but still, we must overcome!
Please do not assume that I am speaking today of only the friction between our major tribes or regions, even within these greater constituencies, one hears of the pettiest of village feuds and inter-ethnic scorn and if one dares to trace the history of these troubles, the result would be no greater than a missing goat, disappearing yam or vanishing cobs of corn, ridiculous!
So whether or not tribalism in Nigeria is indeed handed down or even if it is simply personally acquired, the fact remains that there are signs that this cancer may be significantly present in 2015 Nigeria; a Nigeria in which we elegantly proclaim positive change. If you are in doubt or are simply looking for day to day evidence, then listen to these. Many southerners strongly believe that they are deliberately refused permanent jobs in the north, in fact, I have heard from the grape vine that you cannot find any - of course, this is an extreme view - southerners who are permanent state staff of Northern Nigerian states (they are rather employed on contract basis). Again from the vine, I have heard that in the teaching service in Lagos - probably the most socially mixed state in the country - that if one is not an 'indigene' one will probably never be appointed a principal or even vice-principal except one knows ‘somebody’ and because of this, level 15 and 16 officers are appointed as principles and vice-principles above their superiors in level 17 (I know this last bit to be a fact). The grape has revealed to me that there are many saddened ex-fiancé who claim that they could not get the girl of their dreams because the parents of their Igbo girlfriends objected to the non-igbo-ness of their origins. These may all be stories making the rumour mill but I beg you to remember that sometimes perception and imagination can overpower reality, so we must never take rumours for granted; for where there is smoke, there might just be fire.
The unbelievable bitterness seen on social media during the Nigeria Decides escapade has shown that young Nigerians are not entirely free of tribal pigheadedness, a sad and dangerous situation which could have disastrous future consequences if not properly checked. I proffer that we start teaching history as part of our mandatory basic education because the danger of not knowing our story is that we are bound to repeat the mistakes of our past including unnecessary bloodshed. In fact, why are the tales of our civil war not taught in schools? After all, even kindergarteners in America have civil war re-enactment dramas. These plays ensure that children know the general truth about their war and that no one can easily twist their minds; the theatrics also teach the children that peace has been made by all parties and that they are now truly one. We have to tell our children the stories of our heroes, villains, successes and failures, so that they do not repeat the mistakes of their forefathers (and mothers) and so also that past labours shall never be in vain.
The immediate past governor of Lagos, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola once said, and I quote, "Tell those who try to divide us that our greatest strength has always been our diversity." I truly believe this and say to those who jest that fixing a broken mirror or in our case glasshouse will never hide its cracks, “Melt the damn pieces down and cast a new and better piece, the previous one was probably already old fashioned.” - Me, H33Revary.
I believe there is still a lot of hope for Nigeria; the way we banded together to tackle one of our own in diaspora, Jidenna - the Classic Man himself - when we felt he slighted our motherland and the support we gave to Kenyans shouting #SomeoneTellCNN when the American Cable News Network disrespectfully referred to Africa’s home of wildlife as a ‘Hot Bed’ of terrorism tells me that there is indeed hope for us yet, to truly bond and get rid of our great mental divide. We are one *Plays Lion King Music*.
[P.S.] As I was grooving to the “Looku Looku” video by the Mavins on MTV Base like the gangster sheep above (btw loved the MAMA2015 Award Show in Durban), a shirt with ‘Believe in Nigeria’ boldly printed on it, being worn by one buff guy like that caught my attention and you know what I said to myself? I said, “Make I bend if I gree say this guy buff pass me!” and then I started doing pushups, lol. Kiss someone from another state today so that Nigeria can truly become the United 36 States of West Africa (plus FCT).
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