Prince Frank Ukonga
Lecture 56: Nigeria @ 55:
1] Tribalism,
corruption, religion and its impacts in Nigeria: Focus on the Origin and concurrences
of Tribes of Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Ijaw, Igarra, Efik, Urhobo, Nupe, Tiv,
Idoma, Edo, etc
2] And The
Imperatives of Building Strong Institutions as Synergy to the Attainment of
National peace, Security, Democratic and Sustainable Economic Prosperity:: An
Empirical Overview of Problems and prospects!!!
Introduction:
This day, the 1st of October 2015, His Excellency Prince
Frank Onaivi Ukonga, the chairman of SDP Edo state
of the Nigerian federation greet all Nigerians; Happy 55 independence
Anniversary Celebrations.
Towards building a better Nigeria and to enable the Nigerian Nation
state take her rightful place as a world superpower among Nations of the
world: His Excellency Prince Frank Ukonga offer the following observations as
problems that engender Nigeria’s prosperity and proffer solutions:
1} Tribalism, Nepotism, ethnicity and its concurrences engender
Nigerian development:
In Today’s lecture, I will tell you the truth and nothing but the truth
addressed to help solve the many problems HINDERING Nigeria from becoming greater,
these problems made a toddler, a stutter, a peddler out of a 55-year-old person.
Predictions of Nigeria’s breakup by year 2015:This year 2015 was
the year the world superpowers predicted that Nigeria was going to break upon
tribal lines but to their dismay, Nigeria remained intact after 2015 general
polls, albeit with problems of Tribalism, Nepotism, Ethnicity, being the first
and major problems hindering Nigeria from becoming great. Nigeria is made up of
more than 250 different tribes with three major tribes of Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo
and perhaps a fourth and fifth, Ijaws and the Fulani have become very
significant in the making of modern Nigeria albeit their portable advantage in
the context of the population. The concurrences, competitions, and rivalry among
these major tribes are the real cankerworm that has divided Nigeria, which has
destroyed all possibilities of Nigeria becoming one nation with one destiny. The fear and suspicion of domination by one tribe over the other is real; which
build distrust and destroy inter-tribal bridges relations, among the 250 tribes
of Nigeria causing tribal wars, crimes, subversion of national federal
character traditions in favor of tribal sentimentalities etc…
For Example, the winner of
the 2015 presidential polls of the Nigerian Federation, General Mohammadu
Buhari by prerogatives had the privilege to appoint his kitchen cabinet; of the
40 peoples, he appointed to strategic positions of importance in the Nigerian
federation 33 of them are from the North, the majority of whom are of the Hausa
Fulani extractions and her extended family in other smaller tribes of the North…
that shows glaringly how deep the issue of tribalism, Nepotism, and ethnicity
has eaten into the psychics, minds, senses, and sensibilities of the peoples of
the Nigerian state; Even we find it
difficult to trust other peoples from other tribes irrespective of the cordial
interpersonal relations or friendship, the doubts abound among individuals and
tribes….
2] Tribal Expansionist Policy Thrust before and after Independence
& its Reactionary Backlash:
A]Oromiyan the firstborn of Oduduwa; after ruling Benin
Kingdom abdicated the throne and formed a large army to conquer all the territories
of Modern Nigeria from the South to the desert and the Sahel. He launched a successful
campaign until a Yoruba priest of Ifa Divination advised him to cut short his
campaign which will not aid him to become a Nation to opt-out to form a great
Nation at the site where he will find a great snake. And true to it when he got
to old Oyo town which was still a forest
he discovered the great snake and crested the foundation of one of the greatest
empire of western Sudan, the Oyo Empire the great….
B]Similarly the Fulani leader; His Excellency Utsman Dan Fodio committed
the Fulani Nation to rule from the North to the sea…and this was corroborated
in the 1956 conference of independence of Nigeria in Britain- London when the Sadauna
of Sokoto the then premier of Northern Region His Excellency Sir Abubakar Ahmadu
Bello made a historic statement that …” if by an act of omission or commission the
British want to leave Nigeria the North would have no alternative but to
continue the conquest of the Regions to the sea”’…
C]The peoples of Indigbo Extractions; in their own case are
Republicans and save for the expansionist quest of the Biafra impudence were
they occupied territories of the Ijaws,, Ibibio, Ishrkiri, Urhobos forcefully
partitioning them into Biafra enclaves as in the 19 provinces of Biafra – hitherto
to this major aggression on her neighboring tribes, Indigbo had been within the confines
of what historians described as peoples still wearing their birthday suits…wallowing
in the state of innocuous sleep… with all apologies pls…
D] The Hausa expansionism under Queen Amina of Zauzau; Under Her
Majesty Queen Amina of Zauzau a typical Hausa Empire before the coming of the
Fulani to join forces with the Hausa Nation a major expansionist policy thrust
was also at the stage where the great queen Amina the ruler of Zauzau which is the
present-day Zaria waged a great war campaign to rule over all the territories of
western Sudan to the sea of Atlantic…it was a successful campaign as she sacked
one kingdom after another…broke up the Kwararafa Empire of the middle belt from
Taraba to Kano, Kaduna, Jalingo, Lafia, Katsina, Zamfara, Gusau, to Bauchi, Gombe to
Zuba, Minna, Bida, [Nupe Empire] Daura, Zuba, Kotonkerifi, Lokoja, Bida, Okene,
Agenbode, Jos, Otukpo, Gboko…up to Kungarra a town of the Jukun Empire were she
suffered a setback and died out of wounds…she was one of the most remarkable
leaders in the history of expansionist campaigns in the entire history of
western Sudan…
E] The Afonja/ Alimi partnership: A great warrior of the Yoruba Empire
of Oyo Empire Basorun Afonja- the Are Ona Kakanfo of the Yoruba Race was sent on
an Expansionist mission to expand the territories of the empire beyond the
borders of Ogbomosho but getting to Ilorin he decided otherwise to form an
empire of his own lineage but then as a warrior, it is not traditionally accepted
for him to be crowned by any Yoruba kingdom…so he invited Malam Alimi from the Hausa Fulani Empire of the North to
crown him King…Similarly Malam Alimi an erudite Islamic scholar advised him
otherwise that even in the traditions of the North he cannot crown or turban
Afonja as a king…a truce was made was the son of Alimi emerged the King of
Ilorin as a regent holding the position until the son of Afonja who was then
only 8 years old grows up to be the ruler…along the line, this was not to be and
till today the linage of Alimi are the rulers of the Ilorin[Kwara state] the
extension of the kwararafa empire of yore…
F] The Fulani /Kanuri concurrences: Unknown to many researchers who
see the North as one big people, in reality, there are major differences both in
their tribes and origin …though the Islamic religion bonds them in one family
nevertheless, the differences came to the fore in the various wars between the Fulani
Empire of Sokoto and the Kanuri Empire of Kanem Bornu of the North Western
aspects of Nigeria now Borno State in Nigeria. Despite the expansionist campaigns
of both great kingdoms against one another before the coming of the British, there
had been no record of evidence of either subduing the other in any of the
campaigns… Even during the times of Shehu Idris Aloma the greatest majesty and
one of the greatest rulers of western Sudan of Kanem Borno Empire a mutual
respect existed between the two great empires…
g] The Benin Kingdom vs the Igarra Kingdoms of the Kukuruku Hills and
the Igodomigoddo wars: The great Kingdom of the Benin Empire is one of the greatest monarchs of human History but historians and researchers are at an accord that before the coming of the British
to colonize Nigeria the greater wealth of the Benin Empire was made manifest by
wars of conquests and invasions of the rich kingdoms of the Kukuruku Empires of
Auchi, Igarra, Ossosso, Ibillo, Ebira, Lokoja, etc… these wars were carried on
throughout the slave trade era and it became a known fact that Benin’s
never sold any of their own citizens to the white man but sold the peoples they
captured when they raided the lands of Auchi, Ozauwe, Okpella, Jattu, Igarra, Ibillo, Ossosso, Jattu, Agnbode, Uzeba, Sabon Gida Ora, etc..They had exceptions
in their raid as they allied with the Esan, Uneme and Owan tribes most of whom
were blacksmiths that make the native arms for Benin’s to wage wars of conquests
on her resilient neighbors…
h]The intra tribal wars of the Yoruba Race as the progenitor of the
Internationalization of the Yoruba Race: Focus on the Egba- Lisabi wars
with King Noami of Dahomey, sponsored by Madam Tinubu, The Basorun Ibikunle Wars
of Ibadan stronghold, the Kurunwi- Ijaye Wars, the Kiriji wars, the Osun
Ibarapa wars, the Modakeke revolts, the Ijesha Afrontations, the Soun of Ogbomosho debacles,
the Owu insurgences, the Ekiti Parapo, the Agbekoyas resistance, up to the modern-day Ore battle to safeguard
the Yoruba race from Biafra occupation….
Three major factors accounted
for the glories of the Yoruba race aside from their industrious nature were the
aspects of Slavery, the advantage of a long stretch of coastline on the Atlantic
ocean, the homogeneity of the language of communication, the culture, common
gods, common ancestral heritages, uniform cults traditions, and last but not
the last the several intra tribal wars of conquests waged by the Oduduwa linage of the Yoruba race to colonize
the entire South Western Nigeria of Sub Saharan Africa into a homogeneous polit-
economic enclave… this feat is remarkable as indeed the truth was that the
Oduduwa linage was a new entrant into the region who came from the fall of Mali
Empire earlier than the Fulani through
migration with a better more sophisticated and civilized ways of life…with their
international exposure they were able to quickly subjugate and assimilate the
peoples of the Regions into their fold-some of whom were aboriginals like the
Ijebus, the Modakeke, etc… and form kingdoms of great splendor and majesty to
the admirations of the entire human family…this aided them to overrun a larger
part of Western Sudan forming Yoruba
settlements- like in Dahomey- the Ajase peoples, in Ghana the Ewe, in Togo – Ga, in Burkina
Fasso southern Ouagadougou, in Seria
leone the creo peoples, in Liberia, in Guinea, in the Southern Zaria the Kajes,
the Bogobiris, the Eshekiri peoples of
the Niger Delta, part of the Ijaws, in
Cuba, in Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean Islands, even in the United States,
and perhaps Britain, Asia, and Oceania… In all continents of the world they
have been able to launder the Race as an ambitious, hopeful and contributory
partner to the legacies of the human race whose contributions to the present
global cultural pluralism is tremendous
and remarkable. One major factor for this great achievement of the Yoruba race
in its internationalization and globalism is the cultural pathos, ethics and
meta-ethical resolves with runs similar
with the Judea Christian and Islamic patterns of ethics… this gives them advantages over other tribes in the contexts
of quickly assimilating into its host countries and environment and aids her
acceptability, preventability, and marketability…which most Nations of the world
prefer to those settlers who are cocoon to forming separate heathen ways of
their own forming a nation within the land of the host countries which even in contemporary
times is frown at and discouraged..like the Turkish community and some other
does.They do not assimilate into others…
I]The internationalization of the Hausa Fulani Empires and peoples:
The Fulani’s originated from the land of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East but before
this was part of the Meronic civilization of Kush, along with the Yoruba and
the Igarra peoples…settled in the upper aspects of the Nile River of Egypt…after
Egypt and Cush were invaded by the jet tanned color race of the Coptic they came
with their own form of government and warship…according to German Historians
and researchers the Fulani, the Yoruba
and the Igarra people who were allied and rulers of Cush migrated to the Northern
aspects of Africa to form new empires and civilizations…in these contest the
aboriginal Ghana Empire one of the earliest empires of western Sudan was
toppled by the Coptic and formed the Songhai Empire…the coming of the Fulani,
Yoruba and Igarra peoples into sub-Saharan Africa they soon formed town like City
of Toro, Futa Jolo, the Fulani, Wangarra, and Walata of the Igarra, and the
Yoruba. Agade’s, Timbuktu...at last the Fulani in partnership with the Yoruba
and the Igarras toppled the government of Mali Empire of Abubakadri who was
given the chance to emigrate…He made more than 2000 ships and sailed to America
…it was him who discovered America and formed his government there not
Christopher Columbus as history books erroneously claimed …an aphorism of white
man sophistry…Samamguru the Fulani warlord toppled the government of Mali and
established a great kingdom of the Mandingo, Nubians, Yoruba, Igarra, Ewe, Ga, Tuaregs,
Mossi, Ashante, etc and the Fulani/ Yoruba / Igarra partnership ruled Mali
Empire for over 500 years….After the fall of the Mali Empire the Fulani with
the splinter of the Yoruba Race and the Igarra came little southwards of Mali
to form the Futo Toro Empire…it was from this Futa Toro Empire of Futa Jallon that the Fulani, Yoruba and the
Igarra peoples migrated to Nigeria in several batches of three different routes
according to German Historians and researchers /… This long stretch of remarkable story, exploits, and achievements of the Fulani Empires
across over 1000 years of glorious splendor and reigns internationalized the
Race…and when they came to Nigeria they partnered with the Hausa and with time
had tremendous Contributions to the development and advancement of Nigeria
state and all the more than 25 countries of Sub Saharan Africa which used to be
the geopolitical map of the Mali Empire…
J] The Internationalization of the peoples of Indigbo Extractions: there
is a popular saying that any town you go to in the world if you do not find and
Igbo man gt out fast as that means the town is not safe for business. The industry of the peoples of Idigbo extraction has been carried around the entire
universe…usually the race are peoples with great sons and daughters of
Republican individualistic parsonages with loose primordial loyalties amidst a
common destiny, fears, hopes, and aspirations…they are called the lost tribe of Israel
and they assiduously want to make claims to being part of biblical Israel…but
unfortunately, their hermitic ethical pathos and pattern of ethics gives birth
and projects a different posture which creates doubts as to that claims becoming obfuscating and unsubstantiated …Just
like the George Elliot personages of noticing wandering men and women roaming
around the entire globe in search of what have you; as a semblance of a disinherited
race and peoples…that exactly gives the picture of the internationalization of
the peoples of Indigbo racial typology….in its origin the Indigbo in classical archeology and anthropology
falls within the Buntu class of forest peoples who are aboriginals in the rain forest
regions of coastal lands characteristics of thick jawbones developed canine,
sloppy foreheads, woolly coiled hair, flat nose, developed femurs etc…some could
be peroxide jet black while some could be fair tanned….Not much has been done by
anthropologist to give an authentic coherence of the origin of the Indigbo
peoples but nonetheless they became productive in the nation of Nigeria as a major
tribe and aside from Nigeria there are no other Nations of the world that has a sizable percentage of aboriginal indigbo peoples save through migration,
naturalization, birth and emigrations.. and in these contexts this inhibit any a serious researcher from classifying the Indigbo race as internationalized.. But
in the sixties and late seventies, the impudence of the Biafra war debacles gave
rise to a voice of indigbo intelligentsias who attempted though with portable
success to internationalize the race in the context of spread, acceptability
and diplomatic relations with other countries of the world…among these
countries included Guinea, Tanzania, Zambia, Germany, Spain, Equatorial Guinea
and a few others… short-lived Biafra
secessionists bid from the rest of the Nigerian state truncated this novae internationalization of the assets and liabilities
of the peoples of the Indigbo Extraction and in contemporary times it has been
made more of an obfuscating affrontation in the assimilating tsunami of global
cultural pluralism the factors and contributions of the cultura and cultura
animie of the peoples of Indigbo extraction fades and pales away into
obsolescence and nonimpact issue that could be assumed of international significances….that
is not to say that there are no hordes of them here and there all over the
world trading mostly. What we are discussing is the impact of the various
cultures of Nigerian Tribes on the evolving global cultural pluralism and its subsequent
impacts…and not in individuals traveling up and down peddling spare parts, essential
commodities through supermarket store, bookshops, auto spare parts, medicine
stores and what have you… The major reason for this set back is that the people
of Indigbo are not united…the Indigbo race is of six ethnic groupings- the Ika
Ibo, Ogoja Igbo, the Anambra Igbo, the Owerri Inri typology, Enugu and
Abakaliki stocks…and among these six groupings it is like a camel going through
the eyes of a needle for them to be able to forge out a general language of
understanding and cooperation… A great
thing of the puzzle is that while you can find Igbo peoples all over the world you
can hardly find other nations and peoples of the world living among Igbo’s in
their towns and cities save those transferred to the areas due to federal
character or multinational concerns…whereas close research on the
acceptability of the Igbo peoples of strangers and immigrants is remarkable…they
warmly accept people and they are good people by nature brought up with
traditional catholic faith indoctrinations adulterated with Igbo norms and
pathos…their contributions to commerce, industry, taxes and wealth of other
nations in Nigerian and the global village is remarkable and admirable…but this
does not reflect either in their contributions to the developments of their
homelands…
The Igarra Peoples
and the internationalization of the culture of Igarra: the Mandingo /Nubia
culture: The Origin and History of the Igarra peoples of the kukuruku Highlands
of the Midwest is another interesting aspect and glories of the Black Race…
essentially the Igarra peoples are a mixture of the Mandingo/ Nubians who
migrated same time with the Fulani and Yoruba empires from Mali to the present
day locations…according to German Historians – The Igarra peoples were Princes,
holding power in the Meronic civilization of Cush whose capital Napata was
invaded by the fair-skinned Coptic race of the Cleopatra linage in the lower
aspects of Egyptian civilization and then they had to spread southwards to form
the gold mining towns of Wangarra in the Mali Empire and the seaport town of
Walata…They partnered with the Fulani race in the governance of the Mali empire as
allied and also migrated along with them to Nigeria at the turn of the sixteen
century.. while the Fulani settled in the Northern aspects of Nigeria the
Igarra peoples who were miners and peoples with technological quests decided to
seek highland where they could engage in their mining activities so they sojourned
further southwards to Taraba and became later instrumental to the formation of
the Kwararafa Empire…after the sack of the kwararafa empire they allied with
the Nupe/ Jukun kingdom playing vital roles in the governances of these empires…with
the fall of Jukun they sojourned further down crossing the river Niger to the
present location at the valleys of the KuKuruku Highlands of Edo state of Nigeria
to form the Kukuruku Empire….for more details of the remarkable history of the
Igarra peoples visit the History of Igarra peoples on this website….
Having studied the
various tribes, their traditions, mores, norms, and pathos in Nigeria, a close
look at the possibility of these tribes blending into a Nation is possible and
advisable.
Origin of Tribalism and its underdevelopment of the Nigerian state: Much of tribalism was not known by the era of
Lord Laggard who amalgamated the British 3 protectorates of North, East and
West into one Nation in 1914. The successive colonial governors-general that ruled
Nigeria developed all the regions as on family while the early agitators for the independence of Herbert Macaulay and Azikiwe were voted into the Lagos Parliament
by Lagosians. So when did tribalism started in Nigeria; Research revealed that
it started shortly before and after independence between the power play of
three prominent Nigerian leaders of the Premier of Northern Region, the Premier
of Western Region and the Premier of Eastern Region orchestrated, fuelled and
masterminded by the British colonial powers. This was carried into play when
the military toppled the first civilian parliament of Tafawa Balewa, and subsequently, it was the remote causality of the Nigerian Biafra war…and continued unabated
till today…tribalism ravaging the entire polity of more than 220 million
peoples and responsible for the underdevelopment of the region and the nation.
Corruption, Nepotism, religious strives, etc as the backlash of tribalism;
The other aspects under developing the Nigerian state which today is
corruption, nepotism, religious strives
etc are the reactionary backlash of tribalism, As tribalism breed only
loyalty to primordial loyalties and institutions at the expenses of the
constitute governmental institution which becomes mortgaged and shortchanged to
enrich primordial sentimentalities and individual selfish interest of lack of patriotism.
Panacea: The imperatives of building strong institutions; The one
sure way to checkmate tribalism and it's resulting in problems of corruption, and
underdevelopment of the Nigerian state is to build strong institutions. Secondly, Nigeria needs a total reorientation
and strong propaganda machinery to brainwash all the citizens towards the patriotic quest. The leadership has to take the front seat in this crusade by been
nontribal, by shunning nepotism, favoritism in appointments, national and state
issues and what have you…the ministers and state and governmental functionaries
have to follow set of protocols that will crush tribalism from the ministries,
tenders boards, procurement procedures , appointments etc… The National orientation
agency has to be empowered to transform Nigerian thinking from tribal
primordial sentimentalities to modern thinking of statehood.
2] Building Strong Institutions: It has been observed by researchers
that some individuals in Nigeria are more powerful than many institutions and because
of this it is virtually impossible not to do the bidding of the fifth columnists…this
is an aberration...Whence to build strong institutions Nigerian need to focus on
the following areas
a] Rule of Law: The first institution that need be strengthened is the
Judiciary. When this is down then all citizens will wake up to know that you
can no longer get away with crimes because you have a godfather…as soon as
this is in place then all other things will begin to fall into shape.
The Anti Corruption
institutions: All other institutions inadvertently depend on the judiciary to
perform its duty in maintaining the rule of laws and making sure that justice
is done …so this inter alias determine what extent of effectiveness the anti
corruption institution would be…
When the Judiciary is
properly in place then the democratic institution, ministries of Energy, power,
commerce, economics, banking, finance, budgeting, infrastructural development, works,
youth and women's development and all others would immediately strengthen up.
