Tribal intolerance has become a major problem in Nigeria today. People have died on this course. Nigeria continues to be shackled by local riots and wars, due to tribal intolerance. The 1967 Igbo massacre, civil war, local tribal disputes between herders and farmers, etc., are perfect examples of these tribal wars. As it stands now, another war must be added to that list.

On June 6, 2017, a group from the north, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), issued a three-month ultimatum for the Igbo in the nineteen northern states of Nigeria to leave the region. Failure to do so will result in a removal action by force, which can inevitably lead to war. The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) is a conglomerate of socio-political groups in northern Nigeria. According to the group’s national president, Yerima Shettima, this decision to eradicate the Igbos from the north was triggered by the recent sit-in-house protest by the Igbos to commemorate the death of some three million people during the Biafra secessionist war. . (1967-1970).

Going down memory lane, in the wake of the Nigerian civil war, Igbos were being mercilessly slaughtered by Northerners in the North. Northerners simply did not like the Igbo due to political and tribal reasons. Because of this, the Igbos began to flee from the north to their hometown in the east. In fact, the military governor of the Eastern Region, Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who was completely distraught and unhappy about what was happening to his people, feared that this could turn into genocide. Chain of events like this led to the Nigerian civil war.

Even a blind man can vividly see the dangerous parallels between the AYCF declaration and the 1967 massacre. The “forcible removal” action hinted at by the group’s national president indirectly means re-showing the 1967 Igbo massacre. Who You know, maybe this current tribal crisis would be the last straw, and Nigeria will finally sink into anarchy. To prevent this from happening, it might seem that the only way is for each ethnic group in Nigeria (Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo) to embrace and tolerate themselves as one nation. But how long will Nigerians keep hearing that? Nigeria is on the brink of collapse. Something needs to be done now to prevent the country’s implosion. Perhaps the best course of action to take is to correct the mistakes of the British and our early nationalists.

In 1900, Nigeria was a colony of the British crown, the southern protectorate, and the northern protectorate. In 1914, these three areas merged to form a Nigeria. But with the tripartite politics of Richards’s 1946 constitution, Nigeria was divided along ethnic lines, the northern, western, and eastern regions; each represents the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo tribes respectively. That was a big mistake by the British.

The intelligent Nigerian nationalists at the time, could clearly see that the country was heading for the rocks. To be precise, a delegation led by Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, petitioned the British government to amend Richards’ constitution. In response to this, the British appointed the Willink Commission in 1959 to investigate the issue. Unfortunately, the commission’s report made it clear that a constitutional amendment was completely unnecessary. With this, Nigeria entered its first Republic on October 1, 1960. That day was not only Nigerian independence day, but also marked the beginning of Nigeria’s downfall. The tribal tension and intolerance in Nigeria today is the result of the chain of events that occurred before independence. However, after independence, Nigeria had the opportunity to correct the mistakes of the British.

During the European occupation of Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Europeans merged various territories and tribes to facilitate colonization. But from 1945 onwards, when these European-made territories became independent from their Colonial Masters, they began to divide and form new Nations, born of common tribes and ideologies. Examples of these territories include;

• British East African Territory (BEA), which separated to form Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in 1960.

• French Equatorial Africa (FEA), which became Gabon, Congo, Chad and the Central African Republic, in 1960.

• French West African Territory (FWA), which was divided and became Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast (now Côte d’voire), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Niger, Guinea, Dahomey (now Republic of Benin ) and Mauritania, in 1960.

This territorial rearrangement was not only peculiar to Africa, it also happened in Asia. An example of this was the British Indian Territory (BIT), which was dissolved and became India and Pakistan in 1947.

With all these territorial rearrangements, where was Nigeria? Perhaps we should ask ourselves, where were the intelligent nationalists of Nigeria? Why wasn’t British-made Nigeria divided like other European-made territories at that time? Unfortunately, what the Nigerian nationalists failed to do, led to the problem of tribal disunity and intolerance, which has continued to dig into Nigeria to this day. So the question remains, what is the way forward?

The story of Nigeria is similar to the story of three friends with different backgrounds, languages, ideologies and cultures, who could not stick together, but others keep advising them to find a way to stick together. Eventually, they will kill each other. That is exactly what is happening in Nigeria today. Examples of this “killing each other” include; the 1967 Igbo massacre, the civil war, the current tribal tension between the northern Arewa group and the Igbos, etc.

Given this difficult situation, perhaps the best way forward is to embark on a mutual and peaceful rift of the three tribes in Nigeria, with each territory having its own peculiar natural resources to sustain it. Like Sudan, which recently broke away and formed North Sudan and South Sudan in 2011. Perhaps also, another way forward is to continue to preach peace and unity, which has never worked since independence. Whichever choice Nigeria decides, one thing is for sure; Nigeria’s problems can only be solved by Nigerians.

As a final note, Nigerians should wake up from their slumber and make the right decision now. Decision making defines a country, whether it is good or bad. The great nations of today arose as a result of the decisions made by great men. It is time for Nigerians to stop fooling themselves. People have died on this platform of self-deception. Therefore, the issue of tribal intolerance must stop now before it is too late.

Thanks

Sincerely