The Recognition of Igbo Culture


Newspapers and popular stereotypes
Since the beginning of the twentieth century,
Nigeria had already had a very lively local
newspaper industry largely owned by Nigerians.
Most of these newspapers were published in
English. The classic studies of the development of Nigerian politics claim that the reports in
these papers strengthened popular stereotypes.
28
The studies emphasize that the reporting in the
newspapers focused on the differences between
the Nigerian groups and fanned ethnic hatred
and distrust in the interest of their editors' political ambitions. In particular, attention was given
to the rivalry between on the one hand Igbo
politician Nnamdi Azikiwe, owner of the
West
African Pilot
and a number of regional newspapers, a
nd on the other his Yoruba adversaries
with their own newspapers. As a result there was a loose association of the
West African Pilot
as an Igbo paper, and the
Daily Times
and
Daily Service
as Yoruba papers.
Newspaper reporting was influential. By the
1930s the Nigerian newspapers were fairly
widely read. In 1937, the
West African Pilot
had a daily circulation of 9,000 copies, while the
other main newspaper, the
Daily Times
, sold 5,900 copies.
29
By this time the newspaper
industry which had initially developed in Lagos
had begun to spread to other urban centres
such as Ibadan in the west, Kano and Zaria in
the north, and Onitsha, Aba, Port Harcourt and
Calabar in the east,
30
and taken together the regional newspa
pers had a larger audience than the
national papers.
31
The readership of the newspapers was not limited to Lagos and the
provincial headquarters, and incl
uded people in the smaller towns
and villages in the Igbo area.
In the Abakaliki Division (in the east of the Igbo area) in 1940, English medium Nigerian
newspapers were widely read by the literate Africans.
32
The reporting from the newspapers
was also recycled. Not only were the papers them
selves read by more people, their contents
were also passed on to illiterates by literate read
ers. Therefore, the newspapers reached many
more people, all over Nigeria, than
the circulation figures would suggest.
At a number of crucial moments the Nigerian
newspapers clashed,
accusing each other of
painting a particularly negative picture of other ethnic groups. One such moment was the 1942
27
NAE; MINESTAB 4/1/250 R. Amadi, Secretary General, Southern Nigeria Association, to Minister of Internal
Affair in Kaduna, Zaria, 23 March 1964.
28
Coleman,
Nigeria. Background to Nationalism
; Richard L. Sklar,
Nigerian Political Parties
(Princeton 1963); and
Larry Diamond,
Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria. The Failure of the First Republic
(Syracuse 1988).
29
Fred Omu,
Press and Politics in Nigeria, 1880-1937
(New Jersey and Harlow 1978) 57, 87. It is difficult to
establish the development of newspaper
readership, since circulation figures are scarce. By 1954, the major newspapers
had the following (official) circulation figures:
West African Pilot
: 10,000;
Daily Service
: 12-14,000;
Eastern Outlook
and Cameroons Star
: 10-12,000;
Daily Times
: 60,000. From:
Nigeria. Report for the Year 1954
(London 1958).
30
Omu,
Press and Politics in Nigeria
254-255.
31
Uma O. Eleazu,
Federalism and Nation Building: the Nigerian Experience 1954-1964
(Infracombe 1977) 229.
32
NAE; OGPROF 2/1/2397, District Officer Abakaliki Di
vision to Resident, Ogoja
Province, 10 January 1940.
212
Dmitri van den Bersselaar
split between Azikiwe and the NYM. Although th
is struggle was mainly over personal and
local issues, and not about ethnicity, Azikiwe's
West African Pilot
began to present the NYM
both as Yoruba and as the political enemy (see illustration). The
Pilot
showed similar hostility
to the Yoruba cultural organization Egbe Omo Oduduwa immediately upon its formation in
1946,
33
repeatedly portraying the Egbe Omo Oduduwa not so much as a cultural organization,
but as a vehicle for the NCNC's political enemies; enemies who happened to be Yoruba.
34
The
Daily Service
accused Azikiwe and the
Pilot
of ethnic stereotyping and stimulating ethnic
tensions, pointing out that `Before the advent of Dr. Azikiwe on Nigeria's political horizon,
there was hardly any trace of
anti-Yoruba feeling among the
Ibos. The virus of tribal
aggression was injected
by the learned Doctor.'
35
In the
Daily Times
it was noted that `no
organisation sponsored by the Yorubas will ever
have the support of the Ibos except it first
receives the blessing of Zik or there is the po
ssibility of its being dominated by the Ibos'.
36
While denying being anti-Yoruba, the
Pilot
repeatedly accused the Action Group and allied
newspapers of furthering anti-Igbo sentiments,
portraying Action Group leader Awolowo as an
`enemy of Ibos'.
37
In 1948 the colonial government accu
sed the newspapers of furthering
`tribal animosity', warning them that: `Should the
controversy be continued in a form likely to
exacerbate inter-tribal feelings Government may
be compelled to seek powers to exercise a
measure of control over the press'.
38
However, to focus solely on those moment
s when rivalry and accusations were rife,
would be to present a one-sided image of the Nigerian newspaper industry. Often, the
newspapers' tone was conciliatory, such as in this front page message entitled `Ibo-Yoruba
Friendship', from the
Pilot
:
In yesterday's editorial entitled `Macpherson,
Foot & Co. Must Go,' an unfortunate
expression gave impression that the `Yorubas
flared up against the Ibos.' The correct
statement should have been that the `Yorubas a
nd Ibos were flared up against each other.' We
regret the unfortunate impression created, especially at this time when well-meaning Yoruba
and Ibo leaders are working hard toward
s harmonious relations
hips and friendship.
39
On a different note, the
Pilot
wrote about the advantages of inter-tribal marriage, arguing that
`the more the Yorubas and the Cameroonians or the Ibos and the Hausas, for instance, inter-
marry, the more these couples of tribes will be closely united.'
40
Therefore, the editorial
concluded, `we recommend it to the youths of this country.' This theme was repeated several
times, for instance in a front page article
entitled `Southerner from Maiduguri denies that
33
Sklar,
Nigerian Political Parties
69-70.
34
See for example: N. O. Bandele, `Searchlight on N.Y.M. representative council',
West African Pilot
3 January 1949.
The main item in the
Pilot
's 14 August 1951 issue was a report accusing
Awolowo of performing `Fetish Rites'.
35
Daily Service
23 December 1947.
36
J. Akanni Doherty, `Regionalisa
tion and the future of Nigeria',
Daily Times
5 July 1931.
37
Editorial,
West African Pilot
18 August 1955.
38
NAI; OYO PROF.I 2325/1 Telegram Chief Secretary Lagos
to Secretary W.P. Ibadan, Lagos, 7 October 1948.
39
`Ibo-Yoruba Friendship',
West African Pilot
14 June 1950.
40
`Editorial. Advantages of inter-tribal marriage',
West African Pilot
5 July 1944.
The Recognition of Igbo Culture
213
northern women do not wed southerners'.
41
The borrowing of aspects of culture from other
tribes was also encouraged: `it will be worthwhile
if a tribe, in doing away with any out of date
customs would borrow from another tribe in Nigeria, a similar one which meets with the
times.'
42
What is worth noting, is that while in the villages and towns in the southeast the term
`Igbo' was not commonly employed, the newspapers had no problems talking about the Igbo
when referring both to migrants from the southeast to cities in the west and north, and, in a
very loose sense, when referring to
southeast Nigeria in general. The
Daily Times
, for instance,
refers to `the Ibos in the east'.



http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~dvdb/CH_7.pdf

Zik was a great man. A nationalist.Everybody knows this.

igbodefender:
Zik was a great man. A nationalist.Everybody knows this.

Would you say that he started this alleged poo between the Southerners especially Yoruba and Igbo?

Yorubas are not to be trusted.

Azikiwe had always been suspicious of the Yorubas because he knew they were highly intelligent reason he went with the Hausas thinking he could easily overwhelm them !He did a lot for the Igbos even helped them in becoming vc of the universities of Ibadan and Lagos when thereare more than qualified Yorubas!Karma is definitely a bitch!

both Zik of Africa and The Great Awo are great sons of southern Nigeria greater than any idiot the north has ever produced and will ever produce. so Mr Op stop causing trouble among southerners .










the truth is mine.