We need to be honest about our past if we are to avoid another bloody civil war, says Princess Oma Abel-Unokan and that starts in schools
It took three weeks for the world to wake up to the plight of the Nigerian parents whose daughters were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State, north east Nigeria. To the rest of the world, I am sure it is too grave to contemplate that 276 girls could go missing from their school while their government turns a blind eye.
Most news channels only covered it in passing until ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown put his worthy tuppence in. Once he pronounced that it was unacceptable that 276 could go missing without rousing the support of the international community, it actually became relevant news.
I am glad the world is talking about it and offering help and support. Although I am always wary of America and Britain throwing their interpretation of help into any country but God knows we need all the help we can muster for Nigeria right now.
Nigeria is a vast country of great wealth and educated people but it is also a country where things happen very slowly and nonchalantly because it depends on whether you have clout or not. I do not know much about the president’s family nor that of the governor of Borno State but I can assure you that if one of their daughters had been taken, every resource would have been thrown at the problem.
What I am extremely proud of, however, is the way Nigerians in diaspora all over the world have risen to make their voices heard and their presence felt. Demonstrations from London to Los Angeles and Washington DC; it makes you proud to part of something bigger than the corruption and the nonchalant attitude of the government of Nigeria. Nigerians in diaspora have given energy to the #bringbackourgirls campaign, which started in Nigeria with such admirable force never before seen.
When such life-changing events like this occur there are always conspiracy theories and questions that demand answers. Boko Haram has been killing mostly southerners and Christians in the North and no security measures have been put in place to limit the actions of this sinister group.
Amnesty International says that it was told by credible sources that the Nigerian Army was given four hours notice prior to the abduction of the girls, yet did nothing to stop or prevent it. As rumour has it, al- though the current President is a southerner, he is being sponsored by northerners and therefore cannot turn against them.
One of the primary roles of a government is to provide employment opportunities, housing and a safe and secure environment for people; sadly the Nigerian government has consistently failed to deliver on this social contract and continues to let her people down.
This year is quite significant in the Nigerian history as it is the centenary of the amalgamation of northern and southern Nigerian under the then Governor General Lord Lugard. The Hausas and Fulanis in the north, although they traded with the Yorubas and Igbos and other tribes in the south, were very different people and never saw themselves as part of a nation. The northerners were predominantly Muslims and leaned towards the Arabic world; the southerners on the other hand were mainly Christians.
Nigeria broke out into civil war seven years after securing independence and self rule from the British government, after a series of coups resulting in the Biafran war; a war that is hardly ever talked about in Nigerian circles. I recently read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (sadly, time and logistics have not allowed me to see the film; as it is being shown in limited cinemas.)
The Nigerian government has not given permission for the film to be shown in Nigeria, but that is an- other matter altogether and I realised the is- sues left by the British as a result of colonialism are yet to be dealt with. As Adichie said in her book, “At independence in 1960, Nigeria was a collection of fragments held in a fragile clasp.” I believe it is time we as a nation begin to talk about this war that is part of our history, and it is time to include it in the school curriculum lest we forget.
The Igbos who occupy most of eastern Nigeria are a very hard working tribe and these days travel far and wide to trade or to be educated. The Yorubas occupy the Western Region, while the Hausas and Fulanis dominate the north. These peoples never trusted one another, perhaps a relic of colonialism and the divide and rule policy of the British government.
The British preferred the north as the weather was not as harsh as it was in the south, which had too many mosquitoes. The northerners were also organised under Emirs and already had a feudal system of government.
Wholly unlike the south, whose peoples were deemed mostly ungovernable with the exception of the Yorubas who also had a hierarchical system of government led by the Alaafin of Oyo Kingdom. The Igbos and the mid-westerners like the Urhobos never fitted into the neat Indirect Rule initiated by the British, as they never had Kings up to that time. People rose to eminence in a capitalist republican world of wealth and prowess and became respected elders in the communities.
When the first coup occurred in January 1966, it was seen as an Igbo coup because most of the northern stooges who had been left in power by the British government were killed. The northerners became wary and feared domination by the more educated southerners. A counter coup occurred six months later with the emergence of General Yakubu Gowon, a northerner from Jos as the head of state; northern officers took over and thus began the massacre of the Igbos in the north.
Although Gowon and the British wanted to keep Nigeria as one, nothing was done to prevent the killings of Igbos and southerners, a situation very akin to the federal government’s nonchalant attitude towards Boko Haram killing thousands of ‘southerners’ in the north. Odumegwu Ojukwu emerged as the Igbo voice asking for the killing and discrimination against the Igbo tribe to cease immediately or he would take his people and break away from Nigeria but the federal government did nothing to protect the Igbo tribe, which led to Ojukwu declaring the eastern region of Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra.
I hope the Federal government of Nigeria realises that we are looking down the barrel and although we currently do not have an Ojukwu to lead another secession, this could very easily become a war between the Christian south and the Muslim north. It will only take one man to say enough is enough. We maybe at the precipitate stage already and not yet know.
Lessons from the past need to be learnt: the Biafran nation should be recognised in Nigerian school books lest we forget the fallen brothers and heroes who stood for the truth. The full history of Nigeria should be told and repeated in history books, maybe it might just tug on the heartstrings of Boko Haram to do things differently so we do not put ourselves through another war.
As General Gowon said at the end of the Biafran war: “There is no victor and no vanquished." I hope these words resonate in the ears of our current leaders and lead them to the right path of true governance where citizens are provided for and made to feel safe in a secure environment.
Princess Oma Abel-Unokan is the director of the Training Employment and Youth Enterprise Partnership.
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