Ojukwu’s Philosophy of Detribalism: the Panacea to the Nigerian Political Problems
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is that same purpose that pushed Azikiwe, Macaulay, Ojukwu, and other nationalists to fight for one Nigeria. It is an attempt towards finding the best option for Nigeria, where tribalism will give way for detribalism. That is to say, the effort aimed at encouraging Nigerians to diffuse their ethnicity and work for the unity of the whole country for it is only in such a condition that Nigeria will make progress. It is a way of creating still some kind of awareness concerning the dangers of tribalism and its numerous brothers as nepotism, favouritism on one hand, and exposing the benefits accruing from unity-a situation where the above mentioned ills are non-existent, when all Nigerians will say like Ojukwu “Nigeria is my home and it is only in Nigeria that my destiny truly unfolds.”
CHAPTER TWO
THE PHILOSOPHY OF DETRIBALISM
Tribalism: The Precursor To The Philosophy Of Detribalism
Ojukwu could be regarded as the protagonist of the best philosophy of life for this country – the philosophy of detribalism. Necessity they say is the mother of invention; it is the same necessity that brought about the philosophy of detribalism. Like every man, Ojukwu wanted to transcend the present conditions, defined by tribal identities. He wrote, he granted interviews; he talked whenever he has the opportunity, and above all, he discussed ideas. In all these, he was developing a philosophy, the philosophy of long life for Nigeria and Nigerians, the philosophy of detribalism. He may not be aware of that, but that was exactly what he has done, in a bid to save our country Nigeria. Tribalism is the precursor to detribalism in the sense that without the existence of tribalism the philosophy of detribalism may not have emanated. Ojukwu collaborated this idea when he said:
if there were no misgovernment; if there were no mismanagement of our national resources, and if Nigeria had no problems, and every citizen were happy, then, I might be tempted to accept that there was no need to go into politics.
This means that the presence of many ills including tribalism paved the way for the search for the best method for Nigeria, hence the philosophy of detribalism scattered in Ojukwu’s thoughts.
Detribalism In Ojukwu’s Thought
It is necessary to note from the start that Ojukwu did not describe his philosophy as ”detribalism”. But the principles of detribalism could be sifted from the body of his thoughts. In this way, he may be likened to those philosophers whose thoughts have been organized according to certain principles and given names perhaps post humously. This essay is an attempt to organize Ojukwu’s thought. And I find them expressing the tenets of detribalism. Ojukwu was aware of the conscupious differences in Nigeria emanating from the fact that there are many tribes that make up Nigeria. These differences account for the disunity that is the basic mark of Nigeria. Instead of working healthily in the midst of our differences, many Nigerians see these differences as a means of achieving whatever they want to achieve in the society. In doing this, the national course is retarded.
We have exploited our differences to the detriment of national unity when we should have been working for the removal of those differences. In making an unhealthy capital of our diversity, we failed to turn our diversity into a national advantage and a source of strength.
Ojukwu believes in unity achieved through proper integration of the various tribes that make up Nigeria. This for him could have been achieved if Nigerians had started early enough to work towards that. He dwelt much on the need for unity, which can only be achieved when loyalty to tribes has been transferred to Nigeria. One easily sees in him the ardent desire for national integration.
Prior to independence, I had supported the call for national integration-indeed my enlistment into the Nigerian army had been partially because the army remained at the time, the only respectable pan-Nigerian service available to a Nigerian patriot.
This desire perhaps made him attend the Nigeria independence celebrations as a highborn young man from the Northern part of the country. He believes strongly in a Nigeria that is really united. To achieve this, he urged Nigerians to borrow a leaf from countries that have the same divergence like Nigeria.
Let us look at the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the peoples Republic of China, the United States of America, Canada, C’ote d’Ivoire, Cameron, Kenya, Belgium, and Switzerland. In each instance, various ethnic and religious groups have come together to form a strong political unit which seems destined to last till the end of time.
In Nigeria we have not only ethnic/tribal differences, but also religious differences. Therefore Ojukwu seems to be saying that all of them could be dealt with as in the countries mentioned above. There are so many dichotomies in Nigeria, and Ojukwu listed some of them as the North/south dichotomy and the East/West dichotomy.
CHAPTER THREE
SOME MERITS OF DETRIBALISM
Detribalism Ensures National Unity
The first and the major fruit accruing from detribalism is national unity. Detribalism ensures unity among the various tribes that are usually seem as incompatibles. In fact, another way of seeing detribalism is through unity. It is indubitable that the price we have to pay, as a nation in order to survive is to seek unity with every sense of seriousness. Thus Ojukwu appears correct when he said:
If we believe in unity, as I most certainly do, then we must accept that our survival can only be through unity, that without unity we shall perish. Then we must be prepared to approach the issue of unity and national solidarity realistically, selflessly, fearlessly and with a singularity of purpose. We must overcome old prejudices and entrenched interests and banish from every Nigerian, the atmosphere of insecurity.
When we have survived, we need also to make progress as a nation in almost all the facets of our national life particularly political, economic, and social lives. Ojukwu believes too that unity can guarantee such progress.
Nigeria cannot make progress without unity. Nigeria cannot fulfill her mission to all her peoples without unity. Nigeria cannot lead, nor can she have a decisive voice in the comity of nations without unity. Nigeria cannot aid effectively her African brothers and sisters without unity: neither can she without unity hope to re-establish the black personality in all its glory- a personality to be respected by all humanity and recognized fully as an integral, free and equal part of the human race.
From this quotations, Ojukwu has made it clear the enormous nature of the responsibility entrusted to Nigeria by both her citizenry and the entire Africa. To achieve this, it is simply reasonable that there exists in Nigeria, a reasonable degree of internal integration. This unity for me is nurtured, and so we cannot achieve it, if we do not put up some efforts. There are things we must do to enhance unity.
CHAPTER FOUR
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION
In the words of Professor Paul Bodunrin, “the greatest compliment you can pay a philosopher and any scholar for that matter is to criticize his work.” Having gone thus far, it is now the appropriate time to give Ojukwu his greatest compliment by making a critical evaluation of his thoughts as seen in his work.
EVALUATION
Nigeria has legion of predicaments, and we need the right solutions to get rid of most of them. As a matter of fact, so many solutions have been proffered to take care of them. The ideas of Ojukwu, which I have expressed as the philosophy of detribalism is one of such solutions to make Nigeria better as a united country. This philosophy has some answers to Nigeria’s problems as seen in chapter three above. We cannot but appreciate Ojukwu’s determinations and true belief in the entity called Nigeria. While we thank him for his propositions, we must not lose sight of certain things that will definitely impede the workability of this philosophy in Nigeria.
Education plays an enormous role in the successful organization of any society. The Western world is at what we may call the peak of civilization because of the important role played by education. I think Ojukwu understands this judging from his privilege of having a better education during his own time. Indeed, education has helped him to see things as he does today. The same education has equally aided him to articulate the reasonable solutions for Nigeria’s survival. However, he appears to have forgotten one fact, and that is that his audience is not as literate as he imagined. It appears he took for granted the fact that many Nigerians do not have the opportunities with regard to education and subsequent exposition and awareness. In a special way, most of our leaders are bankrupt educationally. Education is power; the power for change and re-orientation. The absence of this in Nigeria has greatly affected the way Nigerians see things, and it will equally affect this philosophy. With education, most of the attitudes that foster tribalism and disunity would have been reduced to a manageable extent. In Nigeria, education means little, and as such we have limited knowledge. According to G. J. Warnock, “limited Knowledge, limited information, limited rationality, and limited sympathy are the four things that make things nearly go bad always”.
Therefore, education is very necessary if this philosophy will work. This is because it is the educated mind that can have the awareness to understand properly certain practices that are generally seen as absurd. Thus, before ever this philosophy works, a reasonable number of Nigerians needs to have the basic education that will enable them reach some level of objectivity. Without this, I foresee a bleak future for this philosophy.
Closely related to education is civilization. The level of education of a particular society determines in no small measure the level of its civilization. Without being economical with the truth, the level of civilization in Nigeria is very low. This perhaps explains why most of our things are done in the most uncivilized manner. Our democracy is anything but civilized democracy. We have witnessed two impeachments recently namely: Governors Alamieyeseigha and Ladoja of Bayelsa and Oyo states respectively. The proceedings leading to these impeachments were marred with constitutional irregularities. The two events, and others like them are like drama. Our federalism can best be described as pseudo-federalism because it makes use of many principles that are foreign to true federalism. The type of politics played by our politicians is most often barbaric.
I have cited these inadequacies because Ojukwu would want us to borrow a leaf from countries like United States America, Switzerland, the peoples Republic of China and others. His argument for this advice is that these countries had similar problems, cultural divergences, like Nigeria, but were able to overcome theirs and now work as a one united country. For me, Ojukwu made a wrong juxtaposition here. Most of the countries he listed are among the most civilized in the world. Thus, the people easily assimilated the philosophy of detribalism. It is a very different case in Nigeria. Civilization has a lot to offer including enabling us let go certain things we kill ourselves for, which do not necessarily matter. Therefore, the level of civilization in Nigeria is a real obstacle for the operation of this philosophy. Again, I do not think that these countries never had difficulties at the initial stage of their nationhood. They may have experienced what Nigeria is experiencing now.
Furthermore, it is a common phenomenon in Nigeria that once something begins, especially things that are negative, they are very difficult to stop. Military government for instance started in Nigeria as a “restoration” administration in the 60’s. It later became a lucrative system of government that people were ready to die for it. The same is applicable to various types of financial scams commonly referred to as “419”. What I want to point out is that Nigeria has many “traditions”. These include the tradition of mal-administration, the tradition of mismanagement, the tradition of bribery and corruption, the tradition of embezzlement. The list is continuous. The above listed traditions have to some extent proved very difficult to change. In the same way, the tradition of tribalism I think has unnumbered days in Nigeria. This practice is encouraged because majority of Nigerians are not bothered by what happens in the polity. When they do, it is ephemeral. This being the case, the seriousness required to keep at some distance the practice of tribalism is continuously lacking. Ojukwu himself captured this when he said:
When I look at Nigeria, I find that my countrymen and women tend to suffer certain common ailments. We suffer from selective amnesia. We conveniently forget certain unpleasant facts about our journey through life as a polity.
In addition, it appears that Ojukwu was not bothered by the fact that the practice of tribalism favoured certain people in Nigeria. Some were able to achieve whatever was achievable in life through tribalism. Some got employment through that. Some got admissions into the universities through the practice. Some were able to get promotions through the same tribalism. These people were “aided” by some brethren of theirs, and they will equally aid those coming after them. This being the case, it will really be difficult to preach this gospel to such people. What many are seeking is permanent self-interest, and people can go to any length to achieve it including doing things that are unorthodox. Therefore, because the present condition favoured some people, a cog is already inserted in the wheel of operation of this philosophy.
Finally, we come to what I consider the greatest obstacle to the operation of this philosophy of detribalism. And that is the readiness of Nigerian government to search and achieve a detribalized polity. If this philosophy will record any success, it will largely depend on the roles the government will play. As things stand, the Nigeria government has not shown any seriousness towards evolving a real detribalized polity. If anything, the government has even aided the practice of tribalism through their appointments, promotions, and siting of industries. There have been efforts towards a real social, political and economic intercourse, but the government appears to have caused miscarriages in each instance. It behoves on the government to put in place genuine ways of doing things in Nigeria to the satisfaction of all, but the question is, will the government be able to give the necessary support for the philosophy. Unless we have a government that is responsive, this philosophy may not see the light of the day.
CONCLUSION
As a people, we need to decide ourselves what we want and what we do not want. If we decide to be great, then we must work hard to achieve greatness. Ojukwu was in full support of greatness and that is why he said:
The decisions that we make now will decide our future place in the history of our continent, our race, and in the history of the world. We can be counted amongst giants, or become dwarfs. We can be men or we can easily become eunuchs. The choice is for all us to make. I for one, have made that choice in favour of peace and in favour of unity, in favour of man and in favour of being seen as a giant.
Every Nigerian no doubt is in great need of peace and unity, togetherness and real brotherhood. These things are not given; they must be worked for. It was Ukpabi Asika who defined Nigerian unity as “an absolute good.” Therefore, Nigerians must put in a lot in order to achieve a reasonable national equanimity.
We must commit ourselves and our entire energy to finding a viable solution to our national predicament. The search for, and installation of peace within Nigeria is without doubt the fulcrum upon which the entire weight of our national obligation balances.
Our problems are Nigerian; therefore, we need also Nigerian solutions to solve our problems.
The idea of Ojukwu, the philosophy of detribalism, is one of such solutions. There are many more, their combination will certainly see Nigeria in the right direction. I agree with Okechukwu Emeh, when he said that:
The battle against tribalism in Nigeria now needs to be based on a moral crusade fought by tried, tested, and proven integral political moralists, and youthful-inspired supporters and political strategists.
In the word of Alhaji M.D Yusuf, a frontline Nigerian politician, “may the Almighty provide us with the will and the way”.
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