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Ojukwu’s Philosophy Of Detribalism: The Panacea To The Nigerian Political Problems
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1.3 Dangers of Tribalism
Tribalism
breeds a lot of dangers impeding the overall development of a country.
In Nigeria, for instance, tribalism performs the function of a political
tool. According to Ojukwu “tribalism manifests itself more as a
function of politics than as an innate xenophobia amongst the various
groups in Nigeriaâ€[16]. Achebe adds that
a word will stay around as
long as there is work for it to do, in Nigeria, in spite of our
protestations, there is plenty of work for tribe, our threatening
gestures against it have been premature, half hearted, or plain
deceitful[17].
There is some work for tribe in Nigeria, and as it
does its work, there are bound to be many effects on those who use it
and those on whom it is used. Hence, below are some of the dangers of
tribalism in Nigeria.
1.3.1 Tribalism Leads To Disunity
Since
the independence, every regime sets out to achieve the unity of the
country. But these regimes fail regrettably in this project. Most
Nigerians have intense desire for this unity, but at forty-five years of
existence, we have lived more disunited than we had expected. It is the
desire for this unity that has taken Nigeria through various
experiments namely: the North-South dichotomy of early colonization,
federalism or rather pseudo-federalism, the famous three regions
structure and later four, the unitary system of government, the
imposition of a twelve state structure, nineteen state structure, a
twenty-one state structure, a thirty state structure, and at present, a
thirty-six state structure, constitutional conferences particularly the
1995 constitutional conferences, and the just concluded national
political reform conference. All these efforts have been to ensure
unity, but we have always had pseudo-unity. Disunity comes in when
people are attached to their tribes. As Ojukwu said,
the biggest obstacle to unity is that which is commonly known and referred to as tribalism.[18]
Commenting on the dangers of disunity, he noted that
disunity
is a danger that the people of this country can no longer endure.
Disunity has laid to waste all the noble dreams of our founding fathers.
Disunity has nullified all our efforts at national reconstruction and
disunity has led us into war. Disunity has also destroyed our peace. The
consequences of disunity are too terrible to contemplate and too
obvious to require any further demonstration. The legalized barbarism of
the contemporary Nigerian situation is the fruit of disunity.[19]
The
first danger posits by tribalism is disunity. This is not a mere
ideological disagreement, but the type that constantly makes us stand
“on a soil soaked in fratricidal bloodâ€.[20]
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