For Nigeria to move on

One reason why Nigeria is not making progress and lacks national consciousness is that majority of us, especially the political class have refused to move on. In particular, the three ethnic groups, the tripod on which Nigerian nation stands have refused to move on. They keep recounting the feud between men that are long dead, Awo, Zik, Ahmadu Bello etc. They recount the feud between the North and the South .and in the process lies are told in the name of politics. When such lies go unchallenged, they are accepted as the truth.

One of such political lies is that the January 15 1966 coup was an Igbo coup. It became an Igbo coup probably because prominent Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani and Urhobo political leaders were killed while executing the coup but no Igbo political leader was killed. To give credence to this narrative, an Igbo man, Major General J. T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi emerged as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces after the successful coup.

Curiously, the counter coup of July 29, 1966 in which Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi and many Igbo army officers were killed, with then Lt Colonel Yakubu Gowon emerging Head of State and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces was not branded Northern coup or Langtan mafia coup despite the coup announcement being made by Joseph Nanvem Garba or Joshua Dogonyaro from Northern Langtan axis.

The lie of Igbo coup became a political asset to the rest of Nigerian political class to win election and a political liability to the Igbos who instantly became politically irrelevant because of the lie. But the Igbos have only themselves to blame from the point of view of publicity and awareness creation. At that time, they were very active in print and electronic media.

They had the Nigerian Outlook newspapers, the Eastern Nigerian Television and the Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. None of these media outlets was deployed to debunk the lie and propaganda aimed at making political gain. They were busy, pursuing their business and money but failed to debunk the lie told against them. We all know that when a lie goes unchallenged, it becomes the truth.

Acting on the wicked lie, the Igbos, who ran corporate Nigeria in the first republic, 1960 to 1966 as first class citizens were demoted to 3rd or even 4th class citizens as unwritten state policy by those with political power in a country they freely joined and called their own. It is on record that Igbos occupied important and strategic positions in the first republic when appointment was largely based on merit.

For example, the number two man in the government of Prime Minister Alhaji Tafawa Balewa , a coalition of NPC and NCNC was Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe as President. Although executive powers was vested with the Prime Minister, the President wielded significant influence in state affairs. In the tertiary Institutions, Professor Eni Njoku was Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos and so was Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Heads of government establishments like the Nigerian Airways, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Nigerian Ports Authority, Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, Nigerian Armed Forces etc had Igbos in management and in some cases at the very top.

It would have been very easy for the Igbo political class to debunk the lie that the January 15, 1966 coup was an Igbo coup by asking the following theoretical question: If Igbos were running corporate Nigeria in the first republic, why should they stage a military coup to overthrow themselves? That common sense question would have convinced any doubting Thomas that it will be senseless for Igbo to organise a coup under the circumstances with all the risk of treason should the coup fail. Because of that lie that the coup that took the lives of prominent Nigerians like Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Chief Festus Okotie -Eboh and other lesser mortals was an Igbo coup, in what looked like retaliation, Igbos were sidelined in national and private affairs.

For 55 years, Igbos were politically persecuted, albeit quietly and openly denied opportunities, while all manner of stumbling block was put on their way to progress. In national affairs they are openly shortchanged like the allocation of states to geo-pioitical zones where they were allocated five states while others had six each with another having seven.

There are other contrived injustices. Because of corruption and incompetence in governance, and divisive politics, many zones in Nigeria are agitating for secession. Shall we name them? Oduduwa Republic, Arewa Republic, Middle Belt Republic and Niger Delta Republic. Curiously, it is only the Biafra agitators that was singled out as a terrorist organisation with subsequent extra judicial killings going on in the region with the victims crying bitterly for help.   Who cares? Except for some fair minded and patriotic Nigerians like Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Pa Edwin Clarke, and socio- cultural groups like Afenifere are condemning the ill treatment of the Igbos. Some ethnic Igbos outside the South East states out of fear of stigmatisation deny the fact that they are Igbos. Some of them even renamed their ancestral homes while others changed their names that gave out their Igbo identity. All these actions were taken because Nigerians are looking at past events instead of moving on to the future positively.

When Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu returned from exile in Ivory Coast following state pardon granted to him by President Shehu Shagari, some journalists while interviewing him reportedly posed the question. “With the advantage of hindsight, would you have handled the issue of seccession differently?” With a thunderous voice he answered “Look at me very well. God Almighty has a reason for creating man and putting the eyes in front of the head and not at the back so I have no hindsight. I always look forward.”

This is in contradistinction with the case of General Ibrahim Babangida. During the public presentation of his book “A Journey In Service”. He used the occasion as an opportunity to look back and deliberate on some historic events that re-shaped Nigeria. He talked about the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election which, in his book, he published election result figures that showed that Chief M K. O Abiola won the election.

He went further to say that the January 15, 1966 military coup was not an Igbo coup. The truth to debunk the lie was told finally to the whole world. His submission carried a lot of weight, coming from a serving military officer at the time of the coup, now an elder statesman and former President and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces that wants a legacy of peaceful Nigeria. Now that the heavyweight, a big masquerade has spoken the truth, will Nigerians move forward, and positively from the false narrative?

This is the time to move on from the Igbo coup theory. Nigerians should come to terms with the fact that when you are holding someone down, you too are holding yourself down. Yet, Nigeria needs to forget the past and move on. Nigeria will be a better place if ethnic profiling is made a thing of the past. If we are to build national consciousness, let us put into practice the wordings of the third stanza of our National Anthem. “O God of all creation grant this our one request. Help us to build a nation where no man is oppressed…..”

Enyinnaya is Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers. He can be reached via: [email protected]