OJUKWU’S PHILOSOPHY OF DETRIBALISM: THE PANACEA TO THE NIGERIAN POLITICAL PROBLEMS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

 

The British colonial masters made the first attempt to build a nation now referred to as Nigeria in 1906. This they did by the amalgamation of the colony and protectorates of Lagos and Southern Nigeria. This was followed by the subsequent amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria. The marriage between the Northern and Southern protectorates signified the birth of the nation, Nigeria. Ever since this bold attempt was made, it has been struggles. The struggle to keep the colonial masters at their proper place on one hand, and the struggle to convince the apparently incompatible nations that make up Nigeria, of the need to forge ahead as one united people on the other.

 

For a nation brought into being from the political, but more importantly, the economic convenience, of the British imperialist, there is no doubt that the word “unity” will mean a lot. Beneath the real desires of many Nigerians is this unity. There were and still are many struggles by Nigerians to ensure this all-important asset. We have had various constitutional conferences namely: Richards’s constitution of 1944, McPherson constitution of 1951, which introduced federal constitution that never achieved its objectives, the 1954 London and Lagos conferences. Equally different systems of government were introduced one after another all in the search for unity, which constantly and conspicuously eludes us. This is to point out how dear the word unity is to Nigerians. It will not be an overstatement to say that every Nigerian desires this unity. Yet many engage in activities that are rather inimical to the desired unity.

 

Having got their independence, many Nigerians saw it as the sure foundation for the development of Nigeria. Instead of serving as a great stepping-stone, the months after independence served as the right time for many pseudo-politicians to show their true colours. It was a period of revelation with regard to the real interest and orientation of many of the so-called father founders. It was a time when the interest of one’s region, tribe and (though not all that serious) party, must override that of the nation, which some others have lost their lives to build. Bearing this in mind, Ojukwu said, “the struggle for independence gave the Nigerian peoples a togetherness but not unity. It gave Nigeria confidence but not strength”[1]. There seemed to be no room for the most desired gift­­, which is unity. B. Gbulie captures it all when he said; “right from the country’s attainment of independence in October 1960, many a tribalist parading as a politician had been busy farming the cinders of tribalism into frantic life”[2]. The politicians who appeared to have believed firmly in