INTRODUCTION-
To understand the position of Nigeria today, the division of the Nigerian society and the distribution of power between the major ethnic groups one has to analyze the pre-colonial and the colonial history of Nigeria, these are the factors that instigated the plunging socio-political and socio-economic structure of Nigeria. There are three major ethnic groups in Nigeria; the Hausa s, Igbos and the Yorubas, each of these ethnicities have existed in the Niger area for centuries, each with rich history, heritage, and tradition. These ethnicities at a point in their individual histories constructed great, powerful kingdoms like the Yoruba kingdoms Ile-Ife, Oyo Alaafin and so on, the Hausas and Fulanis had kingdoms like Zaria and Kano e.t.c and the Igbo Nri kingdom. The arrival of white slave traders unleashed a ripple effect of discombobulating characters across the kingdoms around the Niger and Benue river, this piece is directed towards dissecting the social characteristics of the each of these ethnic groups that ensured the distortion of pre-independent Nigeria and post-independent Nigeria.
YORUBAS-
The Yorubas, personally i blame most of Nigeria's post-colonial problems on the greediness, selfishness, sloppiness of pre-colonial and post-colonial Yoruba ethnic rulers, monarchs and so called diplomats. It is a popular notion in Nigeria that the Yoruba people are probably the most educated ethnic group in Nigeria, as far back as the 1700s even when slavery was intense Yoruba elites have always found ways to ensure that their off springs get the best western education money can buy, for the Yoruba people today the only way to be successful is to get that university degree, but this drive to absorb European education, religion, culture , sense of wealth and society basically unveiled a darkness that already existed within the Yoruba ethnicity "Greed", the Yorubas are definitely the greediest of the ethnic groups in the Niger area, an attribute the Colonial masters quickly recognized and exploited. Besides the Arabs invasion through Northern Nigeria, the British were introduced to the Niger area majorly by the Yoruba people, the English men did not just come off their ships ,hike the jungles of old Africa themselves, they had guides, they had people that showed them the way, people that told them which village or township was the weakest, the people that thought the English men to explore the deficiency of different ethnicity around the Niger. The relationship between the Yoruba elites , the British merchants and eventually British monarch was more of that of a slave to is master or rather like a dog to its owner, all the Brits had to do was to throw them a bone and the Yoruba elites bent to their will, like i said " it was and still is easier to plea to their greed". Digging into pre-colonial Nigeria, the mistakes of the Yoruba people is clear, very clear, places like Lagos is consumed by people with pre-colonial and colonial family wealth, wealth acquired from selling other Africans into slavery, at the time they wanted to make some money, acquire power through wealth but they eventually cracked the nation at its core . I remember reading about the case of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a giant that fought against British imperialism almost single-handled was betrayed and sent to jail by people(judges, jury, plaintiffs) of his own tribe, his case is an example of the failure of the greed-driven Yorubas. Another example of this is the story of Afonja, the Are-ona- kankanfo that lost the ancient city of Ilorin to the Fulanis, Ilorin was the last of the ancient cities in south-western Nigeria to fall in the hands of the Brits basically because the Fulanis considered it to be their city and their relationship with the Brits total prevented their subjugation but we will get to that. On the other hand ,while Queen Amina of Zarzarzua was waging war against foreign invasion the yorubas were acceding to their new masters or rather business partners as they presumed back then.
HAUSAS AND FULANIS-
Hausas and Fulanis , they occupy the biggest portion of the Niger-Area. The Hausas are more conservatives compared to other ethnic divisions, they absolutely believe they have a divine right to rule and not be ruled , the Northners make claim of absolute power in Nigeria, they are the pure definition of what an African sovereign authority looks like, crude , barely literate and prone to violence.
The Hausas had a different form of relationship with the colonial masters, they already adapted to Arab education and religion, surviving the Arab slave trade centuries before the English imperialists invaded the Niger-Area. They were not totally colonized by the Brits, colonial power was not absolute in the sense that the British imperial government knew they were not totally in-charge and the Hausas merely tolerated their presence, Christianity was not really a factor in Northern Nigeria, there are constant news of attacks on Christians in the North every year.
I mentioned the old Afonja story , it is also the story of the Hausa warrior that conquered the City of Ilorin earlier in the 19th century , prove of the viciousness of an Hausa warrior in battle, because of their connection with ancient civilizations in North and East Africa ,they had adopted laws , educational systems, Military skills from old empires like the Mali Empire, Ethiopian and their Arab invaders, they have grown to be the strongest ethnic group in the Niger-Area , their authority was incontrovertible.
October 1st 1960, the British government handed power over to Tafawa Belewa , a Northner and he immediately introduced more northerners to his cabinet, just like that the North kept its superiority. Over the years, Nigeria has been ruled by mainly by the Huasas, this includes the military authoritarian regimes and the oligarchical democratic regimes as well, Nigeria elected a south-western president who ruled for 8 years after spending time as a military head of state in the 1970s , he handed power back to North twice maybe because he thought it was the only way to keep the peace or he also consider them to be divine rulers. Bottom line the North controls Nigeria, whatever they oppose they oppose violently, their idea of ruling is not democratic neither is their regimes .
IGBOS-
There isn't so much about the igbo people that will not portray them as victims, millions of them starve to death during the Biafran war( Nigerian civil war 1967-1970) , killing of soldiers of Eastern descent in the Nigerian army just before the war, Riots in the North where Northerners attacked the Igbos living in the North , we should also remember that when slavery was popular in West-Africa the igbos were easy targets they might not agree to this but they really were, most were captured an sold because they had various unprotected settlements scattered around Eastern region of Nigeria.
There is a popular notion among Nigerians ''no Easterner will ever rule the country'', maybe Nigerians are scared that a Easterner in power would mean that the North and south-west have to pay for their sins or maybe it is because Nigerians believe it will mark the return of the Biafran idea ( Biafra never ended) or the North will not succumb to losing the oil in the Niger-delta. Most people in Nigeria believed that it was wrong for the Igbos in 1967 to declare their own nation, they created a negative stereotype towards the igbos, this is one of the effect history being recorded by the victor. The civil war totally crippled their ethnicity , their economy crumbled , their social life and freedom were attacked ,at the end of the war most of the igbo millionaires and billionaires of the pre-Biafran era were now far down the middle the class, a committee was set up to over-sea the return of money confiscated by the Nigerian government from the Igbos , unfortunately most of the money was embezzled and most the igbos had to start over from scratch. They are excellent traders, their ability to their to negotiate is their most popular attributes, the Igbos have come along way from 1970 , they survived.
In my opinion, around the country the stories told about the Igbos does not capture the strength and beauty of their culture, i am certain that around their bonfires there are tales, stories of great Igbo warriors, Stories of great igbo kings and Queens that have not been able to slip to the rest of the country. The most popular Igbo man in the country is Emeka Ojukwu and just like Napoleon the stories of the battles he won are not told only the story of the war he lost.
CONCLUSION-
Every ethnicity within Nigeria understands the role of their group on the ridiculous social hierarchy created when the imperial government amalgamated the country even before the official date in 1914. Before the amalgamation, these ethnicities survived for centuries on a simple social structure consisting of a ruler, a large number of producers and a vast army . This system ensured that everyone had a role to play in the society. The introduction of the western system had a few positive but mostly crippling effects on the each of these ethnicities, hate started to spread, the idea of ethnic or religion superiority started to spread violently and intensively. Realistically, i do not believe that we will ever come to a time where this sense of division disappears, i do not believe there will be an actual democratic Nigeria,i do not see the African giant living up to its name. The society is twisted , the people are corrupted in one way or the other, it is scary what you hear people do for money in Nigeria, another barbaric deficit of this crippled society is the idea of Jungle Justice,that see people get burnt to death for stealing change to survive while those that loot billions walk the streets like superhuman.
Decades after independence, The giant of Africa has nothing to show for it, i will not disregard Nigerian's accomplishments in the various fields outside Nigeria. I saw a stats recently, after Trump's travel ban on Nigeria was announced , the percentage of successful well educated and working Nigerians in the United State will blow your mind, it will be hard to believe they all come from a country where Doctors get shitty pay, teachers oversea lectures to ensure their students fear them instead of learning, an oppressive ineligible democratic government, incompetent government officials and a poor middle class. There is a reason why Nigerians can be successful anywhere in the world but find it difficult to replicate that success in their country. History, it is all in the contents of our history, we have to understand it to re-define ourselves , maybe then we will stand a chance in a threat filled world.
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