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Commentary

Nigeria:
The Last of Africa's pseudo-Federations

by
Mazi Kevin Ani

When forecasters of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) predicted the total collapse of Nigeria within 15 years, all hell broke lose. The reactions of the key players in the moribund state highlighted the total bankruptcy of black leadership in this epoch. Some of the so-called leaders have called the prediction a glib talk; others have called for the establishment of a national guard while yet others have called for a rapid response force using arms purchased from Europe, America, China etc. to counter the alleged threat. In fact, the US analysts were merely observing a reality that was all too evident on the ground, if only people would stop burying their heads in the sand and exposing their thinking parts.

 

Nigerian is a phoney federation. It is beleaguered by so many internal contradictions

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that its ultimate collapse as a state is now only a matter of time. When that collapse occurs, Nigeria will join the graveyard of other unworkable and meaningless satanic empires constructed by colonial social engineers in Africa and elsewhere in the last century.
  Nigeria is uniquely evil because in its short violent existence, it has consumed over 3 million Igbo lives. It will certainly not be missed when it goes the way of the defunct USSR, Yugoslavia and other murderous states.

 

There are some people who are currently benefiting from the satanic state and its evil institutions of brutality. Such people have been ranting and raving about the aforementioned US report, but total break up is now unavoidable and no amount of self-righteous rants will change the course of history.  In this essay we aim to interrogate the US report in order to confirm the historical validity of the predicted collapse. We seek to locate Nigeria in the context of other failed pseudo-federations of our time.

 

 

Phoney Federations as Bye-products of Colonial Racist Ideology

 

Nigeria is a bizarre by-product of the colonial ideology in Africa. This was an ideology that denied the validity of African history and humanity, asserting quite bluntly that Africans were sub-humans with no history.  Among the chief theoreticians of this ideology was a H.R. Trevor- Roper, Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University England. According to him, Africa had no history at all. Commenting further, he said:

 

Perhaps in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But, at present there is none: there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness… and darkness is not a subject of history.

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

European

African

Nation

Tribe

Soldier

Warrior

General/Field Marshal

Warlord

Doctor

Witch

Statesman

Chief

 

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

Group Name

Location

Population

Designation

Current Status

Luxemburg

Europe

0.04million

Nation

Independent state

Ireland

Europe

3million

Nation

Independent  state

Sweden

Europe

5million

Nation

Independent state

Denmark

Europe

5 million

Nation

Independent state

Iceland

Europe

0.3 million

Nation

Independent state

Liechtenstein

Europe

0.03 million

Nation

Independent state

Norway

Europe

4.million

Nation

Independent state

Portugal

Europe

9 million

Nation

Independent state

Finland

Europe

5 million

Nation

Independent state

 

Table 3: African Tribes

Group Name

Location

Population

Designation

Current Status

Igbo

Africa

45 million

Tribe

Part of  failed state Nigeria

Yoruba

Africa

35 million

Tribe

Part of  failed state Nigeria

Zulu

Africa

4 million

Tribe

Part of South Africa

Hausa

Africa

38 million

Tribe

Part of  failed state Nigeria

 

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