TRIBALISM AND THE TROUBLE IN NIGERIA by Prof Chinua Achebe.

TRIBALISM IN NIGERIA... Prof Chinua Achebe

"NOTHING IN NIGERIA’S POLITICAL HISTORY CAPTURES HER PROBLEM OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION MORE GRAPHICALLY THAN THE CHEQUERED FORTUNE OF THE WORD ‘TRIBE’ IN HER VOCABULARY. TRIBE HAS BEEN ACCEPTED AT ONE TIME AS A FRIEND, REJECTED AS AN ENEMY AT ANOTHER AND FINALLY SMUGGLED IN THROUGH THE BACK DOOR AS AN ACCOMPLICE.

IN THE LIFE-TIME OF MANY NIGERIANS WHO STILL ENJOY AN ACTIVE PUBLIC CAREER, NIGERIA WAS CALLED “A MERE GEOGRAPHICAL EXPRESSION” NOT ONLY BY THE BRITISH WHO HAD AN INTEREST IN KEEPING IT SO, BUT EVEN BY OUR OWN ‘NATIONALISTS’ WHEN IT SUITED THEM TO RETREAT INTO TRIBE TO CHECK THEIR MORE SUCCESSFUL RIVALS FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

AS A STUDENT IN IBADAN I WAS AN EYE-WITNESS TO THAT MOMENTOUS OCCASION WHEN CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO 'STOLE' THE LEADERSHIP OF WESTERN NIGERIA FROM DR NNAMDI AZIKIWE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT ON THE FLOOR OF THE WESTERN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY AND SENT THE GREAT ZIK SCAMPERING BACK TO THE NIGER WHENCE HE CAME. SOMEDAY WHEN WE SHALL HAVE OUTGROWN TRIBAL POLITICS, OR WHEN OUR CHILDREN SHALL HAVE DONE SO, SOBER HISTORIANS OF THE NIGERIAN NATION WILL SEE THAT EVENT AS THE ABOLITION OF A PAN-NIGERIAN VISION WHICH, HOWEVER INEPTLY THE NCNC TRIED TO HAVE AND TO HOLD. NO MATTER HOW ANYONE TRIES TO EXPLAIN AWAY THAT EVENT IN RETROSPECT, IT WAS THE DEATH OF A DREAM-NIGERIA IN WHICH EVERY CITIZEN COULD LIVE AND WORK IN A PLACE OF HIS CHOICE ANYWHERE AND PURSUE ANY LEGITIMATE GOAL OPEN TO HIS FELLOWS; A DREAM NIGERIA IN WHICH AN EASTERNER MIGHT ASPIRE TO BE PREMIER IN THE WEST AND A NORTHERNER BECOME MAYOR OF ENUGU. THAT DREAM-NIGERIA SUFFERED A DEATH BLOW FROM AWOLOWO’S SUCCESS IN THE WESTERN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY IN 1951. PERHAPS IT WAS AN UNREALISTIC DREAM AT THE BEST OF TIMES, BUT SOME YOUNG EDUCATED MEN AND WOMEN OF MY GENERATION DID DREAM IT. AND THOUGH IT DIED, IT NEVER FULLY FADED FROM OUR CONSCIOUSNESS. YOU COULD ALWAYS FIND IDEALISTIC PEOPLE FROM EVERY PART OF NIGERIA WHO ARE PREPARED TO DO BATTLE IF ANYONE (ESPECIALLY EUROPEAN OR AMERICAN) SHOULD ASK THEM ‘WHAT IS YOUR TRIBE?’: “ I AM A NIGERIAN” THEY WOULD SAY HAUGHTILY DRAWING THEMSELVES TO THEIR FULLEST HEIGHT. THOUGH ALIVE AND WELL, TRIBE HAD AN EMBARASSING ODOUR."  .... Prof Chinua Achebe in his book "THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA".