Nigeria: Where’s the place of the Igbos in this federation? (Part III) -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

Dear ardent reader, I welcome you again to yet another exposition under the above title. Let me start by appreciating you for taking the time to view, to read and discuss, to call, and to offer insightful contributions towards making this series much better in terms of presentation and choice of language. I appreciate you greatly and I treasure your corrections and encouragements. This is the Part 3 in this series where we’ve been treating the Ibo dilemma for a while now.

Our major aim (like I’ve said in the Part 2) is to emphasize the positive side of the ethnic group that qualified them as nation-builders and if so; to attain the political height that has eluded them over the years and for which I think it was time for a redress. Nigeria, as we’ll no doubt agree can be metaphorically described as a family of 6 children where upon the demise of the parent, there ensued a bitter squabble among the children who by law are all heirs to the Trust that was left behind by the parent.

The bitter squabble soon turned into an all-out war that saw 5 brothers pitted against the one with the brains to profitably administer the estate to the benefit of all the other brothers. For the brothers had acted based on a belief (that was never proven) that they would come to naught should their brother administer the Trust on their behalf even if for a few months. So they felt really threatened about the idea and, decided upon the advice of one of the brothers to go to war.

And so there was war in the family for a period of nine hundred and fifteen days (that’s approximately 30 months). Although the war took a long time, yet it ended after thirty months. It was victory for the 5 brothers but vanquish for the one. And the Trust was forcefully collected but it was never shared among the 5 brothers as it ought to have gone. Instead, the one among the five brothers (who had urged the others to war against the one) emerged as administrator!

Using the tactics of divide and rule, he enticed two brothers to his side thereby making himself stronger than the other three (including the vanquished). Now the inheritance rotated around the three while the other three made do with whatever was given to them as proceeds from the administration of the Trust. Sometimes, the relationship between the six brothers showed a scenario that appeared as if it was still wartime when the five brothers pitted against the one.

At other times, it appeared to be 2 brothers that’s pitted against the one with the other 3 playing invisible roles against the one even when it’s clear that the Trust is really only been administered by rotation among the 2 brothers! But from the beginning, the story is that the parent had first requested that the Trust be held by the brother – who had stirred up his brethren to go to war – before their demise and this brother would lose every sense of obligation towards his brethren until the one with brains first revolted.

As Africans and even more Nigerians, stories like the above have become our synonym especially since post-independence! A close look at the above story will easily show the menace that is destroying Africa – that is, the mentality of greed and avarice. This is the mentality that has kept Africa (and by inference Nigeria) from ever proving to the world that it was the invasion and subsequent colonization of the continent by Europe that has kept it from actively competing with or even influencing international trade.

After reading Walter Rodney’s book – the famous basis for the erroneous claim; I hated to dismiss his claims (that Europe underdeveloped Africa) but loved to call it a scholastic diversion that has since given leadership in Africa (and by inference Nigeria) the latitude for ineptitude, impunity, nepotism, corruption, tyranny and gross larceny. Greed gave birth to mutual distrust, suspicion and the willingness to seek to protect self against unforeseen happenstances. This – unfortunately – is the story of Nigeria.

Today, all that actually remained in the grand efforts to fully appropriate a federation of diverse tribes and cultures to the firm grip of a section of the country was the change of name from the ‘federal republic of… to the Fulani republic of …’ What troubles me every time I reflected on the situation of things in this country was the zeal with which the champions of sectional dominance went about town working feverishly as if to say that the long awaited solution to the hydra-headed problems of Nigeria was tied to it.

I wish they had the solution! For then, I wouldn’t bother myself again with writing contents but would rather be calm in the hope that my little children and the little children of those of my contemporaries would be secure in the country of their birth. Regrettably, Nigeria’s solution is not in a Fulani republic but in the equitable distribution of the country’s commonwealth to the benefits of all. Haven shown preference and unalloyed loyalty for racial bonding; it’ll be sheer folly to assume that the heterogeneous reality in Nigeria will reflect in a Fulani republic.

Recently, the cry against nepotism as well as the clear-cut agenda to ‘fulanize’ Nigeria by the current political party (APC) in power received a boost. No less a personality than towering and respected figures like Col. Abubakar Umar Dangiwa (rtd), Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, President Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, The PANDEF, The Guardian Media etc; have at several instances implored government to show respect for the Federal Character Act but the very deaf ears of government is not listening.   

The cry against nepotism is a confirmation of the above parable – particularly when we looked at the NNPC top management positions as currently constituted – that Nigeria (as a Trust) benefitted the Fulani race more than any other member of the federation as if to say that they owned the Trust alone or the crude oil resources. Even in terms of religion; they act as if they’re the only ones who practiced Islam or the only race in the core north of Nigeria that did not have Christians among their brethren.

The sectional arrangement in the NNPC can also be found in agencies like the FIRS, Army, Customs, Immigration Service, the NIA, the NTA etc. It is intended that whoever becomes president after 2023 will operate much like the former US President Barrack Obama who found himself surrounded by white supremacist, and could do nothing meaningful for his Black folks! Now, most of the Fulani peasants are waiting impatiently for the sounding of a battle cry to commence warfare as Miyetti Allah openly confirmed!

Nigeria is no doubt a bankrupt N G O because of nepotism. But the highly respected Nigerian statesman and Biafra commander-in-chief – Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu – saw and tried to avert this events in the 60s and, was labeled an ambitious felon by those who thought he knew something of their devious secret plan to appropriate Nigeria unto themselves. Their wicked propaganda had built the lie against Ojukwu from the long held animosity against the Ibo tribe’s industrious nature.

All those who believed the lie back then – from the late Nigerian statesman Chief Anthony Enahoro to the very well and living General T Y Danjuma – have regretted their actions. They regret because they could now see beyond Ojukwu and Biafra or what Ojukwu meant when he said “On Aburi we stand!” Ojukwu had insisted on a restructured arrangement as the only alternative to back down because he had the oil resource of the Niger Delta and he knew that the Fulanis – who initially planned secession after the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello – had reversed their plans because of oil.

But the Niger Delta people from the Ogoja and Ijaw race refused to support him – because they’d believed the sentiments of Major Isaac Adaka Boro who openly campaigned that they were better off with the Fulanis than with the Ibos – and that greatly affected Ojukwu’s bold effort to untie a people’s destinies from the apron of the Fulani. Today, the said oil is in the firm grip of the Fulani and as predicted; they have no place for anyone else but themselves. It is unlikely that in the future there will be any position or place of power for whoever that was not Fulani.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; an advocate of attitudinal change writes from Abuja, Nigeria. 08062577718