Tribe Is No Longer The Word

Every tribe.., no; tribe is no longer the word. ‘Tribe’ is too generalized and divisive. If possible, it should be decreed foul by the government. New terms should be coined by the grammarians in the presidency because unless we want to continue selling the vague truths to ourselves, there is little feeling of nationalism in the country.

And when nationalism which is the coin for the payment of our way out of the throes of poverty is absent, it is just too sure that the country will remain in trouble.

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Nationalism, I can say, died on October 1st, 1963 when Nigeria became a republic. By then, the divide and rule policies of the governments of the regions and the federal government was already at the brim. It took only four years later before the Biafran civil war would try to kill the nation. Nigeria survived but unfortunately her parts did not. Peace is elusive still.

From 1970, when the civil war ended, to date, Nigeria has experienced ethnic-instigated massacres in which jaded individuals maimed and killed disadvantaged groups of people. The bloods of these people like the biblical cries of Abel against Cain, cry against the nation that cut them in their prime. No one seems to hear their dirges. If anyone is, then the tribal machinery that got them killed would have long been grounded.

Recently, while President Goodluck Jonathan was on state meeting to Plateau State, a very bitter man, though he hid it well, went forward with his pains. Fulani herdsmen took cows from his and his father’s herds with condemnable impunity. Though it did not quite alarm those present at the meeting, it did me. Probably their deadly indifference was justifiable. Probably snatching of cows had become an everyday event. The man was angry. He sweated with venom with each word that he spoke. This only indicates one thing: trouble still brews in that State.

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For this country to be better, people must see the sanctity of another person’s property and interests. This, of course, can only happen when we start to see other beings as Nigerians rather than as a member of another tribe. The word ‘tribe’ has to be eliminated from our subconscious.

Nigeria has not gotten over the shoddy manner with which it was formed. Not all her parts wanted to be Nigerians. The Southern Cameroons had an option of not being a part of the entity during the formative years and opted out of the unification. Other parts of Nigeria, were they to have had the option, they would have opted for another alliance other than Nigeria. All that did not happen. We became a country whether we liked it or not. It is now a very abnormal thing to be doing things that will prevent us from enjoying the benefits that alliance offers. We ought to be making the best use of the power of many but obviously we have not been and seem not intent on enjoying it.

The present attempts by politicians in the country to curry the sympathy of voters in the next general elections, is simply mummifying. One of the worst Plateau crises in the past few years was caused by a local government election. The Plateau local politicians played on the volatile condition in the State to ensure victory for themselves. But rather than achieving their aims, they created wide-scale violence. That was local politicking. And that was what it caused.

The present national/tribal politicking must be stopped with all urgency. It is threatening the sovereignty of the nation. We might say that we were made in heaven and if we dance at the brink of destruction for ages we would not disintegrate, but the sheer reality is that unless we want the ship to sink permanently, we have to come together. We have to stop the present divisive campaigning techniques that are newer forms of the first republic’s woes.

We, of course, refer to Nigerians who are banking on the new hope from INEC. We must vote only for the candidate who comes forward, not on the pedestal of a tribe, but as a Nigerian. Tribe is no longer the word; we have had too much of it.

Yemi Soneye blogs at http://yemisoneye.wordpress.com

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