The basis for Nigeria’s unity is a question that Nigeria has grappled with for over a century. The foundations of this existential crisis were laid when—for the sake of economic and administrative expediency—the British Empire amalgamated the northern and southern protectorates of one of its west African colonies and created Nigeria. Similar to the fashion by which European empires shared African land between themselves during the scramble for Africa of the 1800s, Nigeria was created in 1914 without the consultation, participation or consent of the indigenes of the land. The British Empire, having non-consensually ‘unified’ diverse people-groups to form Nigeria, employed a ‘divide and rule’ tactic which fostered unhealthy competition between the regions. These toxic conditions made it easy for the empire to exert control and extract as much as possible from this colony, much to the detriment of the inhabitants they had ‘united’.
The leaders of the various regions and tribes that made up Nigeria came together briefly to push for independence from British colonial rule. But having achieved this goal in October 1960, the regions had no real common ambition to galvanize their unity. Although many of the leaders of newly independent Nigeria were committed to the pan-Nigerian ideal, these principles were abandoned at the first sign of tension and gave way to the parochial and tribal sentiments which had existed before independence.
As Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the founding fathers of independent Nigeria, put it, ‘…the Nigeria which they handed over to us, had in it the forces of its own disintegration…’
Old prejudices found their way into the new Nigerian state, further exacerbated by the actions of the political elite who—preoccupied with the desire for political relevance—resorted to stirring up ethnic sentiments and abandoned the pursuit of nationalistic goals. This post-independence state of affairs is partly to blame for the decimation of Nigeria’s First Republic (1963-1966) at the hands of the Nigerian military, who would go on to rule the country for over 30 years. Disgruntled elements within the Nigerian armed forces attempted to bring about a revolution that would do away with the blundering political class and put the country back on the path to greatness. According to the young Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was one of the leaders of the January 1966 coup d’état, the enemies of Nigeria were ‘the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 per cent; those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.’
The coup-makers assassinated several high-profile politicians including the prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, the northern premier, Ahmadu Bello, the western premier, Ladoke Akintola, and a host of other VIPs. This spate of killings was considered lopsided, as most of the casualties were from the Northern region of the country. The council of ministers who survived this ‘revolution’ handed over administration of the nation to Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, the head of the Nigerian army who was also instrumental in resisting the coup and preventing further bloodshed.
In an ill-advised attempt to restore a sense of unity in a deeply fractured country, Aguiyi-Ironsi issued the now infamous Unification Decree No. 34 of 1966 which essentially stripped the regions of their former political impetus and concentrated power in the central government. This was a stark departure from the parliamentary democracy practised at independence, when regions had nearly absolute control of and responsibility for their natural resources, overhead costs, and civil service. Under the unification decree, former regions became ‘groups of provinces’ governed by military administrators. Political parties and tribal and cultural associations were abolished and, most controversially, the previously separate civil services of each region were unified, meaning that anyone from any region could be employed within the civil service anywhere in Nigeria. Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo from South East Nigeria, made this decree to fulfil an earlier desire to ‘end regionalism’.
However, the decree had an impact that was the opposite of Aguiyi-Ironsi’s intentions. Still reeling from the loss of their leaders during the coup, northerners feared that unifying the civil service would expose them to unfair competition from better-educated southerners. This new decree lent credence to the notion that the failed coup was one big conspiracy by the Igbo to dominate Nigerian society. Aguiyi-Ironsi was assassinated a few months later in the July 1966 countercoup led by northern officers, plunging the country into further political crisis and deeper tribal divisions. Decades of resentment erupted as millions of south-easterners living in northern Nigeria were targeted and killed. The ensuing political impasse between the northern and south-eastern regions would degenerate into a full-blown civil war.
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