Nigeria is a country of many nations; many different
people of different tribes, customs and religions
fused together by our then English overlords in
1914.
Different people of different religious denominations
and tribes forcibly put together can only spell one
word – trouble!
When the English put us together in 1914 it was on
the basis of ‘divide & rule’. It worked in their favour
as it was easier to rule a country divided against
itself – and at each other’s throats – than for them
to rule a united people.


But that was over a hundred years ago.
Since then we’ve managed to stay together like an
old married couple – though we don’t often like
each other most of the time – through a civil war
and countless uprisings. Whether we like it or not
the Federal Republic of Nigeria is here to stay and
nobody will be carving out a new Fulani or Yoruba
Empire or a Biafra state.


At the end of the civil war in America and the
abolition of the slave trade Abraham Lincoln was
quick to point out that a ‘ house divided against
itself cannot stand’. Since 1776 America has
managed to stand, as a nation, despite all its
inherent race, religious and tribal differences.
In Nigeria when things go wrong we’re quick to
blame the Hausa man, Fulani man, Igbo man or the
Yoruba man. We’re quick to point out that he’s
either a Muslim or a Christian, a Northerner or
Southerner. Very petty in deed!


We’re Nigerians. We’re family whether we like it or
not. Family sticks together through thick and thin,
through the good or the bad (sic- well most of the
time!). We’ve let sibling rivalry enter our family,
blaming that one because he’s a Northern Muslim,
ostracizing those ones because they are Biafran
separatists, ignoring those ones because they are
from the West Petty bickering! Silly excuses to
avoid dealing with the real problems at hand –
passing the buck! Yes we have problems but
allocating blame to a person or persons because of
their tribal or religious affiliations will not solve the
problem.


A nation divided against itself cannot stand!
So the first step in nation building – or re-building
as is the case for Nigeria – is to act as one
people, one nation. So if something is wrong, or
going wrong, blame the person in charge as an
individual and don’t bring their religion or tribe into
it. So Buhari is there now and he’s only favouring
the Northern Muslims. Or when Goodluck was there
everything he was doing was to favour the
Southerners or Obasanjo only put the Yoruba’s first.
Likewise our politicians, especially those in
opposition, should stop playing the religious and
tribal race card. It’s cheap, petty and inappropriate
in the 21st century. It’s strange that race and
religion doesn’t come into it when they are sharing
stolen public funds!


The collective blaming of an entire religion or tribe
for the misdeeds of a few is morally wrong! For
instance Fulani herdsmen are out of control. They
terrorize and murder people who oppose them
taking their herds wherever they want to.


The problem here is not the ‘Fulani’, a northern tribe
of more or less peaceful people, but the ‘herdsmen’
who have taken the law into their own hands. In the
absence of any enforced law in Nigeria governing
their movements as herdsmen they will get up to
mischief, resorting to anarchy. You deal with them
as the offending individuals and don’t put an entire
tribe on trial. Also when we hear of the Boko Haram
atrocities we are quick to condemn all Muslims for
the actions of a deluded few. Is every Yoruba man
a cultist or armed robber? Is every Igbo man a drug
smuggler? No!


There is one proverb that says the King
cuts off only the offending finger and not the entire
hand. Blame the offending individual as personality and not as a representative of their tribe
or religion.


This country has stood for over a hundred years
through out all the problems that has been its
history and will continue to stand. We can make
things a lot better if we face problems as they are
without having to resort to bickering about religion
and tribal differences.

Racism is not the biggest obstacle to our development, corruption/lack of transparency & accountability in governance is.