Since Africa had no history, Eurocentric scholars and social engineers have ignored local realities and proceeded to create their own version of African history. To match this political ideology, they have even created their own prejudiced lexicons, which differentiated Africa from the rest of humanity. As shown in Table 1, some legacies of this linguistic apartheid are still evident today. For example, Africans are said to have no nations, only tribes, no generals, only warlords etc. Only Europeans produced doctors, soldiers, statesmen generals etc. Africans produced only witches, warriors, tribal chiefs and warlords (Table 1).  The application of linguistic and social apartheid to state formation ultimately led to the creation of monstrosities such as Nigeria.

Table 1: Linguistic Apartheid: European vs. African terms

               African Tribes vs. European Nations

Colonial ideologists in Africa did not just hypothesize; they acted on their theories as well. For example, since Africans were deemed incapable of forming nations, it followed that African tribes however large in population, and whether or not they had a common history, culture, occupied a contiguous territory etc. could be amalgamated with other tribes to form new “nations”. These new nations were then expected to embark on the project of nation-building with the expectation that at some unspecified future date, they would become true nations, a stage presumably attained in Europe eon years ago. This was how the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, some of the largest true nations of Africa became coerced in one unworkable nation-state called Nigeria.

Of course this was a sharp contrast to what obtained in Europe. As shown in Tables 2 and 3 every European nation however tiny had a right to self-determination, a seat in the UN etc. For example, whereas, Luxemburg with 0.04 million population is a fully independent state, over 40 million Igbo, one of the largest true nations of Africa have been denied these rights and coerced into an uneasy alliance with Mohammedans, feudalists etc. in an unworkable  contraption called the Nigerian state. Within our own lifetime, more tiny European nations-states have emerged (e.g. Croatia, Slovania, Georgia, Bosnia etc.) and the high heavens have not fallen.

 Table 2:  European Nations

Table 3: African Tribes

The rise and Collapse of Pseudo-Federations in Africa

Having convinced themselves that African peoples were incapable of nationhood both historically and developmentally however large, the colonial masters proceeded to form mixtures of these alleged pre-state bands or  tribes into units which they called “federations” and other fancy titles. They did this by simply by drawing straight lines on maps. Nigeria is a good example of such unworkable amalgams. It  is a false federation which has within its boundaries, Mohammedans, Christians, animists, Igbo Yoruba, Hausa etc.  This is a recipe for state failure and disaster for which Africa is justifiably famous.

In fact, the post-colonial history of the Africa and the world is replete with the carcases of these false federations which have collapsed one after the other like a pack of cards. Viewed both historically and comparatively, Nigeria is next on line to go down the ignominious path of other fraudulent federations, some of which are reviewed below.  

1. The Central African Federation

This was also known as the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It was created by the British in 1953 after a so-called referendum. It comprised of the protectorates of Nyassaland, Northern Rhodesia and the self-governing colony of southern Rhodesia. The unworkable contraption collapsed in 1963, paving the way for the present day modern states of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

2. The East African Federation

A supposed federation of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar, this British contraption was created in 1948. All the usual trappings of the state – joint high commission etc. were set up. The silly set up however started to fall apart in 1961 following the independence of Tanzania. Today the so-called East African Federation has been consigned to the dustbin of history and in its place are the states of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. That was yet another requiem for a pseudo-African federation, the product of the colonial ideology in Africa.

3. The Sahel-Benin Union

The British were not alone in setting up worthless federations, the French also set up unworkable unions in Africa. One such federations  purported to amalgamate the states of Dahomey (now Benin), Ivory Coast, Niger and Upper Volta (present day Burkina Faso) in 1959. Also known as Conseil de L’Etente, the unworkable union has since been consigned to the dustbin of history. Elsewhere in the area, the French - created union of Central African republics formed in French Equatorial Africa also bit the dust, another testimony to the bankcuptcy of colonially-inspired union of opposites.

4. The Caribbean Federation

Just as the colonially-inspired pseudo-federations were collapsing like a pack of cards in continental Africa, elsewhere in the black world, the British were busy creating yet more “federations”. The Caribbean federation otherwise known as the West Indies Federation was created in 1958 incorporating Jamaica, Trinidad, Leeward and Windward Islands, Barbados etc. In 1962, the so-called federation came to an abrupt end and its so-called constitution and other paraphernalia of state were consigned to the bin. Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados etc were thus left in peace to pursue their various destinies as independent states.

                     The Nigerian Federation – Requiem to a Failed State

From the foregoing, it is clear that Nigeria is neither unique nor sacrosanct as we are led to believe.  On the contrary, Nigeria is just one of the very many sham federations set up in Africa and elsewhere in the black world under colonial occupation. All of these so-called federations have since failed and have been consigned to the garbage dump of history. The last of them is Nigeria, a state tittering on the edge of the abyss. Therefore to suggest that the Nigerian state is immune to collapse is a total and utter nonsense. The seeds for the collapse are all too apparent, unless urgent steps are taken. In the rest of this essay, we outline the main issues that will finally consign Nigeria to well deserved oblivion:

 1.    The Igbo Question

One of the largest true nations of Africa, the Igbo have traditionally played a leading role in the great events of black history. The Igbo were the first to challenge colonial slavery. In the Americas, they were key players in the world first successful slave revolt led by Toussaint L’Overture (1743-1803), which led to the foundation of the state of Haiti. The state of Haiti is today replete with relics of its Igbo past. In the 18^th century, Olaudah Equinoh, an Igbo not only championed the abolition of chattel slavery but also helped to found the state of Sierra Leone which capital was called Freetown for freed slaves.

 While Africa languished under colonial rule, another Igbo, James Africanus Beale Horton (1835-1883) - physician, British Army officer, mining entrepreneur and banker – demanded the immediate freedom and sovereignty of Igboland. In fact, Horton was the true father of the Igbo liberation struggles, a tradition ably taken up by His Excellency Gen. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. In addition, it was Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), another Igbo in Diaspora, born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands who laid the foundation of West African nationalism and of pan-Africanism while Nnamdi Azikiwe inspired a whole generation of Africans who finally overthrew colonial rule in Africa. Today the great Igbo nation is entrapped in an unworkable and failed state, hemmed in by sundry feudalists and Mohammedans. It is hard to believe that the Igbo nation with such a rich history of resistance and freedom fighting will remain embedded in such an unworkable failed state called Nigeria for any length of time. Therefore Igbo dissociation from the Nigerian state is only a matter of time, unless urgent steps are taken to address their grouse.

Edward Wilmot Blyden, LLD. (1832-1912) (Igbo Founder of West African nationalism & and Pan-Africanism) How long will the Igbo nation remain coerced into a failed state?)

2. The Biafran genocide (1966-70) an unfinished business.

Biafra (1969): Christopher Kip Warr of Oxfam buries a 4-year Igbo child victim of hatred and genocide.

              (Courtesy: Patrick Watson and Benjamin Barber)

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The Biafran war (1967-70) which claimed over 3 million Igbo lives was a horrific crime against humanity, a crime crying out for atonement. In 1970, Biafra’s Gen. Philip Effiong was faced with two choices, ending the war or continuing it in a guerrilla format under the platform of the Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters (BOFF). Effiong chose to end the war but with the caveat that the Igbo would fight again if the wrongs which led to war were not corrected.  Other world leaders (e.g. President Georges Pompidou of France) were united in repeating the same warning i.e. that Biafra would re-emerge in the future unless the Igbo question was carefully resolved.

Nigeria ignored the warnings. Instead, it set about confiscating Igbo bank accounts, their landed properties, destroying their schools, churches, language, cities etc.  In 1970, Nigerian leaders proclaimed that money was no problem but how to spend it and yet they refused to rehabilitate the infrastructures damaged in Igbo territory during the war. Today Igbo cities are crumbling while resources extracted from occupied Igbo territories are used to develop Hausa and Yoruba areas. What is left is siphoned abroad and stored in coded bank accounts. In addition, they have ammassed a massive foreign debt which they invested in projects outside of Igboland...

 Instead of addressing the Igbo grievances, Nigerian rulers have gone to Britain, Russia, Germany, etc. and bought rusty old guns, which have given them the confidence and boldness to treat the Igbo question with flippancy. They pretend that they won the war, even though no victory was possible without the intervention of Britain, USSR, and the Arab League. As their state totters on the edge of disaster, these people are still rambling on about rapid response, national guard and other degenerative lexicons of force, forgetting that even the USSR, armed to the teeth with conventional and nuclear weapons could not ultimately save itself by sheer force of arms.

And so the alienation of the Igbo from the Nigerian state continues unabated. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Hausa-Fulani and their allies who perpetrated the Biafran genocide and their Igbo victims cannot and will never be successfully governed under one nation-state. To do so would be practically the same as forcing the Armenians and their Turkish killers or the Jews and their Nazi tormentors into one nation-state. Besides, no independence movement of the size and scale of Biafra with the level of sacrifice in known human history ever ended without achieving its aim. This is a simple truth.

Courtesy: Wanadoo (France)

The Biafran child (1967-70): Can Perpetrators and victims of Genocide be governed in one nation-state?

The clash of civilizations, otherwise known as the war on terror.

America’s 9/11 has changed the power equation in Nigeria.  We recall that in 1966-70, the West and Russia had armed and supported Islamic forces to take power in Nigeria. In so doing, they inadvertently handed over control of the entire world energy supplies to the wahabists of Saudi Arabia and their northern Nigerian supporters. Today, the same west under attack by al-Qaida have now come to the conclusion that allowing the Islamists to control the Nigerian state and its oil isn’t such a good idea after all. Russia itself is deeply embroiled in a war of attrition with Islamists in Chechnya.

The Islamists of Nigeria have not helped their case either. For example, some fellows have against the dictates of common sense introduced sharia law in parts of northern Nigeria, stoning women and hurting western sensibilities. Elsewhere, in the area a demented group is seeking to create a Taliban-style regime; while yet another is burning US flags in Kano even as writers, beauty contestants and artists are silenced with fatwa.

Meanwhile Nigeria’s days as a single state seemed numbered the day Mr bin Laden in one of his famous video tapes named Nigeria as one of the states he intended to liberate. The world (most especially the West) is not about to sit and watch a black Taliban state allied to al-Qaida emerge in Nigeria. Clearly, the time is now ripe for the West to disintegrate Nigeria along its natural fault lines. This would at least isolate and quarantine the Hausa-Fulani Islamists and their al-Qaida allies in their desert margin where they would pose no threat to the West’s alternative energy supplies in the South Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Is anyone now in doubt about the essential thrust of the US report?

The way things are going, it will soon be a requiem for Nigeria, a state run on the principle of gross injustice. When the final bell tolls, the grave stone of Nigeria will be inscribed with the words: here lies the remains of a genocidal state which oppressed and murdered 3 million Igbo people.

Mazi Kevin Ani

Executive Director

CIVIL RIGHTS LEAGUE-NG

crlng@catholic.org