In the political history of modern Nigeria, there have been five efforts at trying to divide Nigeria at different times and by different sections of the country. Two attempts were actually carried out and three were agitations and did not go beyond that. To add to this there was also a plebiscite to decide the fate of some parts of the country.
The first request or agitation for the breakup of Nigeria ironically came from the then northern region. That followed a motion for Independence for Nigeria in 1951 by Chief Anthony Enahoro. In the motion at the Federal parliament in Lagos, Chief Enahoro moved that Nigeria be granted Independence by 1956 through a process supervised by the British colonial rulers of Nigeria. The motion was supported by Chief Enahoro’s Action Group (AG) and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). But the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) not only rejected the motion on the grounds that the northern region was not ready for Independence, the party went ahead to call for secession of the northern region from Nigeria. ‘’A raba’’ meaning ‘’Let us Secede’’ was the rallying cry all over the north, and the region was only pacified when its demands for self-governing regions among other issues were agreed.
Again, following the January 1966 coup in which northern political and military leaders were killed, the mood in the north once again was in favour of secession from Nigeria. It was so strong that following the counter coup staged by northern officers in July same year, it was one of the main issues under consideration. The north was only prevented from taking this path following some intense diplomatic and national engagements with the northern military officers who staged the coup and top bureaucrats.
Before the northern agitation, there was an attempt by elements of the Niger Delta to secede from the country led by Isaac Adaka Boro in which a Niger Delta Republic was declared mainly in the areas covering the Ijaw ethnicity.
Although this attempt was limited and short-lived, it foreshadowed the major one that was soon to come; the declaration of Biafra Republic and the resultant war between the federal forces of Nigeria and the forces of the breakaway Eastern Region of the country from 1967 to 1970.
All through these developments, the South Western region of the country although beset with turbulent political activities, however refrained from going the secession route. This however changed when Chief M.K.O Abiola a prominent political personality from the area was denied the elections he won on June 12, 1993. Among the prominent political figures from the region who rallied to a cause of validating the mandate of Chief Abiola, were those who favoured a path of the South West seceding from Nigeria to form an ‘’Oduduwa Republic’’. Indeed President Bola Tinubu who was one of those in the forefront of the struggle was once quoted in an interview he granted newsmen as saying he never believed in the unity of Nigeria. Of late, especially during the administration of Muhammadu Buhari there had been strident calls mainly from fringe elements in the south west for secession from Nigeria.
The question to ask is if it came down to the brass tack, can Nigeria be divided and if so, by which means?
Many have reasoned that Nigeria can be divided peaceably through constitutional arrangements. Some believe and have called on foreign powers to help in this regard.
From the lessons of secessionists attempts like whether through agitations like the northern and south western ones or through actualizing it like the Biafran and Niger Delta episodes are easier said than done due to the complexities embedded therein.
Take the North for example. A deeply fractured region in terms of religion, ethnic identities, cultural disparities and economic development, any attempt by the north to secede from Nigeria will almost certainly be dead from the start. The Northern region will almost certainly dissolve into a vast killing field without a central authority to hold the region together.
On paper the south west region can lay claim to homogeneity through shared historical, linguistic and cultural links. But will the South West let go of the Yoruba-speaking parts of Kwara and Kogi states, which belong in the North Central geo-political region, in the putative Odua state, or will there be an attempt to risk a war with the North by forcibly annexing and incorporating the areas?
In the East where the issue of secession remains strong even as the scars of the Biafran episode still remain, the enduring question is that can the current proponents of Biafra get the buy-in of the ethnic minorities of the area into their cause? This is critical because it was the inability to resolve this issue that contributed largely to the failure of the first Biafran episode.
Can we then hope that a foreign power will come and land boots on the Nigerian ground to forcibly divide Nigeria as some wish?
The first thing to note here is that if by any act on the path of any component of Nigeria, a foreign power is invited to come and settle issues here, it will certainly not go per the wishes of that component part. Any foreign power coming to ‘’settle scores’’ on behalf of any group in Nigeria will do so on its own terms without regard to anyone.
Secondly, other foreign powers would also contrive to be ‘’invited’’ to Nigeria on behalf of other Nigerian parties and the result will be a wild scramble and partitioning of the country into chunks to be occupied and exploited by opposing foreign powers. Nigeria will then revert to colony of occupying foreign powers just as China was before 1949. Or like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Belgian, French, American, Chinese, Russian, Rwandan and Ugandan armies and mercenary groups are in control of large chunks of the country extracting the resources of the country on behalf of their principals rendering the central government perpetually and largely ineffective.
The truth is Nigeria was forged by violent force of arms by the British. Let us not be fooled that dividing Nigeria will be a peaceful exercise for any who attempt it. As the lessons of both the Biafran and the lesser Boro Niger Delta attempts have shown dividing Nigeria through violent struggle can only hurt the perpetrators and the Nigerian people at large. If Nigeria were to break up, it will not do so in large chunks but like Humpty Dumpty it will break up in smithereens with nobody being the better for it. This is not scaremongering and intimidation as some people might think. Based on existential reality, this is the prospect that awaits attempts to forcibly and violently divide Nigeria and those who want to attempt it must factor that into their plans or swallowed by the reality of the situation they unleashed.
The reality is that Nigeria like all nations is at the beginning of the long road to nationhood and the challenge is not about breaking or dividing it, but more about forging its component parts into a nation that holds itself creditably in the comity of nations.
(Concluded)
Iliyasu Gadu can be reached via Ilgad2009@gmail.com, 08035355706 (Texts only)
