Dons Eze
CAN NIGERIA SURVIVE IGBO-YORUBA INTERTRIBAL WAR?
The Niger area, as the territories were called before the amalgamation, were areas occupied by different ethnic groups (Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa) that now make up today’s entity called “Nigeria.” Try hard as we may, though, this new identity, somehow, hasn’t seemed to stick. Deep down in the recesses of our minds, we still bare our own tribal identities, each to his own ethnicity. Sadly, it was never this way. I wasn’t born in that era, but I know my history and I did read that, before the coups, counter coups, pogroms in the North and then, the bloody civil war, Nigerians held true to one identity and saw each other as brothers.
For me, the problem with Nigeria and her ethnic divide began with politics. It is called “divide and rule,” or, at least, that’s the African man’s ideology of power. From the moment Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and the likes begun politicking, Nigerians suddenly became ethnic conscious and a demon was born—a demon that still roams the country looking for whom to kill, steal and destroy.
Of the country’s 3 major ethic groups (Igbo, Yoruba and Hausas), no two tribes have been consistently at war with each other longer than the Igbos and Yorubas. The bitterness between these two is legendary. Like the Russia-America war, the Igbo-Yoruba war also took a cold form—no one openly acknowledging it, but, still, daggers always drawn in the dark.
In the last presidential elections, it came as no surprise that the three leading candidates were from the nation’s three major ethnic groups. However, unlike Atiku Abubakar and the eventual ‘winner,’ Bola Tinubu, Labour Party’s flagbearer, Peter Obi, based on analytics, appeared to have followers that cut across many divides. Be that as it may, the tag, “Igbos,” was still forced on him and his followers, including the Yorubas among them. Those ones were tagged “omo ale,” meaning “bastard” in Yoruba, for siding with the Igbos. So, yet again, the tribal war went on and on, through election cycle till date.
The Igbos will not waste time to highlight the bad of the Yorubas and the Yorubas will always be ready to do the same. Back and forth, on and on, the bickering persisted. If a Kidnapper is caught today, both sides will be on the lookout for the name. If it’s a Yoruba name like “Bolaji Hassan,” the Igbos will rejoice and make banter. If an armed robber is arrested the next day bearing the name, “Chukwudi,” the Yorubas will sound the gong and clap back. It’s just a sight for sore eyes, the ultimate losers being Nigeria, the entity.
Things may have come to a head on recently when, in the diaspora, a certain lady declared war on the Yorubas and promised them death. When I saw the name, “Amaka,” popup as the instigator, I instantly knew the Yorubas will jump on this one and make a meal of it. Letters have been written, requests have been made for arrest, but, past this seemingly natural call for justice is the true monster behind the veil—an appetite by one of these two tribes to see the other go down.
Lagos, the most populated city in Africa is no different. There are actually groups on social media that spread these hate agendas and tribal discord. Chief among them is a handle called, “@lagospedia” on X. Oh! Those ones will stop at nothing to see the Igbos gone. “#IgbosOut” was their recent hashtag they trended, a rallying cry to expel all Igbos in Lagos. But for the timely intervention of the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in shutting down that tribal contempt and calling for peace, who knows if things wouldn’t have deteriorated beyond saving.
Right now, the polity is so heated. No more is it a cold war: It is now fast brewing into an open tribal war between the Igbos and Yorubas. Now, let me point out: Present circumstances are no different than event that culminated in the pogroms in the North in the 1960s. Unguarded racial slurs soon metamorphosed into racial confrontations and when the powers that be handled it with kid’s gloves, it became a full scale war—the Hausas feasting on the blood of the Igbos and then, boom, we had the civil war.
Did I just hear somewhere say, “why always the Igbos?” Oh no! In fact, at a time in Nigeria, it was even worse than this, being that the Yorubas themselves were at war with each other to the extent that they burnt each other alive in “Operation Wetie.” How about less than a decade ago when Hausa-Fulani bandits claimed large territories of Yoruba land, raping, killing, kidnapping and illegally grazing on farmlands in the Western regions of the country? Now you see there are no Saints in this matter. The only monsters that remain are the Igbos and Yorubas who appear to have sworn to fight till the death.
I dare say, to a very large extent, this profound Igbo-Yoruba racial menace we see today is being orchestrated by the Politicians themselves? How so? Divide and Rule, remember? The last elections, when an Igbo man (Peter 0bi) won Lagos state and came this close overall was an eye opener for many, some of whom are powerful figures lurking in the shadows, political godfathers who feel threatened already and will not stand for the tribes to form any sort of unity. So, the seeds of discord had to be sown and the masses, sheep as they are, were misled in an instance into tearing each other apart while the rich laughed in their high castles and carried on ruling while we bickered at the bottom.
The question is: When will the Igbos and the Yorubas have sense? When will they see past the smokescreen of these manipulating politicians and realize that the only victims of this tribal war are themselves. When will they resist this divide being orchestrated and, instead, unite to seize the rule from these evil politicians? The journey to sanity is a long walk from here, my dead, but, are we even ready to try, at least? Whew! A big question.
Unlike many sheep out there, I am conscious of my identity as a Nigerian. I interact with the Hausas and Yorubas just the same as I do with my paternal Igbos. The mentality of tribe is far from me. Your value to me as a person comes first before your tribal name or looks. Now, if this same mentality of mine is imbibed by every Nigerian, we will see less and less cases of reference to tribe let alone irritation by it. We will, truly, see ourselves as one Nigeria and focus on more important issues than whose tribesman sits in Aso rock or which tribe in the news for bad reasons.
We have got rising inflation, an alarming poverty rate, a terrible economy, yet some group of senseless tribal bigots are still whining over ethnicity. Geez. Can you please wake up and grow a brain? What is this? How can one be so dumb as not to see the big picture? It appalls me. If Nigeria fails today, as a Yoruba man, you fail. If Nigeria implodes, as an Igbo man, you will implode with it. It will be your loved ones who will die. Is that what you want or you think this is some kind of a joke? Hasn’t history taught you anything? I think I need to drop my pen at this point. This is all too much for me. My people are lost. I just pray they come back to sanity before it gets too late to apologize.
