The Late Arthur Nwankwo built up a reputation in Nigeria as a courageous critic of Nigeria’s evolving political systems. In his book ” The Igbo Leadership and the Future of Nigeria” he turned a searchlight of his analytical mind into the forbidden zones of ethnicity. We all believe in theory that all subjects of social relevance should be grist to the mill of society’s intellectual scrutiny.
But in practice we Nigerians have surrounded certain areas of our national expirience with barbed-wire fences and red signs screaming “Keep Off”; “Danger”; “Explosive!” and similar intimidating notices. Tribalism fall into that occult territory.
If the warning signs were meant to prohibit the practice of tribalism all reasonable people would applaud. But alas, the taboo is always on discussion and is rarely evident in the arena of daily practice. So we may not raise the spectra of tribalism except as a cliche to be drenched in pious condemnation from public platforms while in the secrecy of decision centres and boardrooms it is enthusiastically received and given floor just like APC Buhari and now Tinubu has brazenly done in the last 9 years of their misrule with disastrous consequences for the Nigerian economy.
By dragging this evil into the full glare of daylight without apology or false embarrassment, we all will do a healthful favor akin to psychoanalysis which can only be beneficial to our national psyche.
Admittedly The Igbo Problem is not the only one Nigeria has; It is not even the only ethnic problem she has to battle against. But our recent history and the structure of our polity make the condition of the Igbo crucial to the resolution of so many other problems. To believe otherwise is to play the ostrich politics – a game in which no one is fooled or endangered as much as the ostrich himself!
In the present mood of Igbo people there is no doubt that a good many of them would question the value of pleas such as the late Arthur Nwankwo makes in his book; “The Igbo Leadership and The Future of Nigeria” 54 years after Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. Their attitude runs something like this: “Let’s quit pleading for acceptance and work rather on the assumption that we have received all the accommodation the existing structures can yield us, and proceed to seek our fortune outside them.
For such people marginalization holds no new terrors. They have already experienced so much including the scenario of Abandoned Properties which Pini Jason described in the Vanguard newspaper of October 10, 1985 as a crime akin to apartheid.
Reading his book, one can see that the late Arthur Nwankwo was a true Nigerian patriot and was not prepared to leave such issues to fester silently, creating the danger that a sizeable section of our national population might be forced into alienation, thus directing their considerable energy and ingenuity to ends outside the mainstream of nation life.
The emergence of Nigeria as a modern nation-state, beginning from the 1930s and culminating in the independence of 1960, was neither a historical nor sociological anomaly. The fact that the new nation was peopled by many different ethnic and language groups, should not have been an obstacle to collective survival and progress.
Problems arise, however, as in the case with Nigeria, when such a nation-state is encumbered with a colonial legacy of ethnic disharmony and suspicion. In such an atmosphere every well-intentioned act for individual and group transcendence (such as hard-work and creativity among the Igbo) is given a negative and antagonistic interpretation, for example, that the group aim is domination. This is the historical setting in which the Igbo of Nigeria find themselves.
The volatile nature of inter-ethnic relations in Nigeria calls for leadership which is able to articulate clearly the motives of the group so as to forestall any suspicion among the other groups of hostile or malevolent intent. But whereas larger groups within the nation reach out to the others through shrewd and dedicated leadership, the Igbo, lacking this type of leadership, grope in the dark, often ending up as hunted game in the socio-political and economic chessboard of the nation.
