A look at how a diplomat who signed up to serve his country ended up serving his own people: Part IV
PetsWith the professor’s contribution to organizing African unity, and the OAU resolved to a level of action that reasonable people would accept, the dialogue continued on a disturbing chronology.
Setting: In the 1950s and 1960s, the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo tribes were rival young brothers of their father, Nigeria. They are older now, but like all siblings, they sometimes kill each other again.
Divulgation: The answers are not word-for-word quotes from Professor Austine SO Okwu; rather, they are interpretations and extrapolations, based on my understanding of the issues discussed.
question: Why did Nnamdi Azikiwe, also known as Zik, who undoubtedly fought for Nigerian independence harder than any other citizen, never became the almighty Prime Minister of Nigeria, but was reduced in importance to a mere ceremonial president? ?
Answer: “Good question, dear Anselmo.” A short break followed. “By the way,” the professor continued, “my son Anselmo, you look very good today; Sometimes I want to kill you because of your haggard appearance, but today you look good. Your wife Sandra is doing a good job. My congratulations and congratulations to her.
Initially surprised by the unexpected compliment, in the midst of the compliment I received with his participation I laughed to a mild attack.
When the laughter stopped, an awkward silence filled the room. In the expectant moment, I saw in the professor’s face a man who was delving into the depths of the story, examining the content and wondering if the result could have been different. When he had found the right tone and gesture, he responded.
‘Zik wanted to be the prime minister. Nigeria wanted him to be the first prime minister, and his party, the National Citizens Council of Nigeria, the NCNC, wanted him to be the prime minister; but the British thought he was too stubborn for them.
Through your West African Pilot newspaper [1937- fifties]Zik had been a thorn in the flesh of the colonialists.
Even though I had anticipated this answer, my head still dropped to rest on my left fist. After I recovered, he continued.
“You know, my dear Anselmo, the British will give you freedom, but not power, not authority.” To deny Azikiwe, an Igbo man, along with his party, the National Congress of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), and his southern constituencies a real authority, the British put forward an unsubstantiated tally that found that northern Nigeria was more populated than the southern part of the country. Based on this calculation, enshrined in the first Nigerian constitution, colonial Britain assigned 51 percent of the representatives to the central government to the north of Nigeria, and to the south of Nigeria it gave 49 percent.
Since the enclave that has the majority of representatives produces the Prime Minister, the position passed, in 1960, to Allahaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Hausa, the key man of his political party, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC).
Question: Much has been said about the ‘fear of Igbo domination’ of the 1950s and 1960s, which to some extent was one of the accelerators of the Nigerian-Biafra civil war. Where did this sentiment come from, who were these Igbos who ruled Nigeria, and on what basis did other tribes think that Igbos ruled them?
Answer: ‘Again, another excellent question, and I am delighted that you brought this up.’ Then a pause, shorter in time but, going through the level of focus, deeper in thought than the pause in the first response.
The fear of domination was a mixed bag in which errors of perception and errors of unbridled emotion can be found, but of course also some undeniable reality. The country feared two categories of Igbos; those of private companies and those of the federal public administration.
Igbos are great travelers who travel to the north and west of Nigeria. By necessity the Igbo travel. We have a large population but a smaller land mass, and our soil is not as fertile as in other parts of Nigeria. However, stores thrive when our people set them up. Life flourishes when our people move into communities.
Under small shacks, the Igbo sell leather, become traders, trade in palm kernels and weave baskets to sell, establish bicycle and shoe repair services, and open hairdressers and hair weaving shops.
What the Igbo saw as versatility in manual labor, other tribes saw as evidence of domination.
Thinking for a few seconds and recalling the civil service sector of that time, he said: “Yes, it cannot be denied, our people were abundant at the federal level.”
Igbos are pragmatic. On one level they led the national struggle to wrest power from the colonialists, but on another level they imitated the white man’s way of life, helping them with the government, attending their schools, cooking for them, cleaning their houses and taking care of their gardens.
The Yoruba, the other main tribe, were less delighted and were very suspicious and contemptuous of the white man. They consulted their gods and attacked the white man with phantom punches, talismans, and seven serpentine witches.
Due to the continuing relationship of the Igbo with the white colonialists, after the departure of the latter, more Igbo assumed their functions as federal civil servants and law enforcement officers.
Envy, resentment and paranoia arose from the other great Nigerian tribes against the Igbo and their relatives, the professor lamented.
Smelling the bloodshed, I stirred uneasily. Where my right palm had soothed my cheek, a temperature had developed, warmer than on the third day of malaria fever.
- Nothing new: the devil in man will always find reasons to brutalize another man.
Many Nigerians joined the 1960s mafia mentality with the Igbo as scapegoats. Vilification is the fuel from which chaos springs; in this case, the war between Nigeria and Biafra, which lasted from 1967 to 1970.
The end.