CHAPTER ONE
THE BACKGROUND TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF DETRIBALISM
1.1            Tribalism And Nigerian Political Development
Ever since the marriage between the Northern and Southern Nigeria became a reality, Nigerians have made several attempts to preserve this marriage; but constantly, it has nearly broken up. No doubt Ojukwu said that;
Since Nigerians took their own destiny into their own hands, every national intercourse has borne the sterile aspect of a coitus interruptus-a primitive method but very effective in preventing the birth of a new nation.[1]
For a strong political, economic, and infrastructural development, the various ‘nations’ that make up Nigeria should be united to achieve these. Several efforts have been made, albeit some are pseudo-efforts, to see that Nigeria is united. However, tribalism has constantly threatened the road to Nigerian unity.
At independence, and subsequent first republic, Nigerians had expected that the political actors then would have used that period as a time for laying a solid foundation for a united Nigeria. This never was; rather the so-called father founders considered it paramount to play tribal politics that stunted the growth of the nation. Nigeria is basically below the waters today because wonderful opportunities that would have fostered national development were dashed at the early days of her life as an independent nation.
A good number of politicians in these early days of this nation did not consider Nigeria a reality, let alone, work for her unity. This was evident in their utterances then. Some of them are Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yakubu Gowon, to mention a few. Commenting on these differences, Gowon said,
Suffice it to say that putting all consideration to test, political, economic, as well as social, the base for unity is not there[2].
On his own part, Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto and a tribalist par excellence said,
Nigeria is so large and the people so varied that no person with any real intellectual integrity would be so foolish as to pretend that he speaks for the county as a whole.[3]
Still skeptical about this word unity, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the first prime minister said “ since the amalgamation of the southern and northern provinces in 1914, Nigeria has existed as one country on paper”[4]
One cannot forget so easily the ignoble statement of Awolowo that “Nigeria is a mere geographical expression”[5]. These are not the only ones; they have a lot of disciples, however, their positions made them outstanding. In fact, they made these statements when they have the opportunity to retreat into tribe in order to check their more successful rivals from other parts of the country.
Tribalism retards development especially political development, and since other developments hinge on that, all other aspects of development will also be grounded. A lot of instances from the first republic up until the present third republic show how tribalism has left Nigeria in a comatose. First, it is generally believed that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe won the premiership of the then Western region, but could not occupy the position because he was of the “wrong” tribe, albeit he showed a bad legacy by rushing to the East and manipulating himself into power by edging out Chief Udoma. In 1964, a group of young Nigerian officer cadets mainly Northerners, were declared academically unfit and repatriated by the Canadian military authorities. These cadets were declared commissioned by the Nigerian Federal Government no sooner than they had arrived at the Ikeja Airport[6]. In 1961, the premier of the North and Sarduana of Sokoto paid a visit to the Royal military Academy, Sand Hurst and wanted to meet with the Nigerian cadets. When he eventually appeared to see his fellow Nigerians, he asked an embarrassing tribal question to one of them: where do you come from? From Nigeria, was the answer. But the premier was not satisfied, so he went on, where exactly in Nigerian?[7]. In 1962, the then Federal Minister of State for the Army, Alhaji Tanko Galadima, officially visited the Nigerian Military Training College [NMTC] Kaduna.  As he was about to leave, he presented both pocket money and kola nuts to only the Northern officer cadets[8]. As expected, this caused great ripples in the army then. In 1960, shortly after independence, the then prime minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, directed the principal of Kings College, Lagos, Mr. P.H Davies, to secure available places annually, for at least fifteen boys from the North, whether or not they passed the required entrance examination[9].