I am now of the opinion that there are only 2 races, ethnicities or tribes in the world: the rich/influential/powerful and the poor/commoner/weak.
More often than not, the rich will create social structures to attempt to keep everyone in their respective place and will strongly resist and oppose any attempt of the poor aimed at joining their ranks.
Bringing it home to the Nigerian context, a Southerner, and specifically an Igbo, may think the Nigerian ethnic tribalism of the Hausa/Fulani against the Southerners and Easterners is the reason behind the resistance to regional resource control and fiscal federalism in Nigeria.
Some may go as far as believing that the Hausa/Fulani is THE enemy of progress of the Igbo.
But is that really true? Let us look more closely.
If the Hausa/Fulani elites were opposing the efforts of the Igbos simply for the sake of tribalism, one will expect the states that consist of the Hausa/Fulani tribe to be the most prosperous states in the country in every possible classification.
As we are all aware, the exact opposite is the case.
Clearly, we see that even within the Hausa/Fulani tribe, the rich is savagely raping and subjugating the poor.
Furthermore, the Nigerian 3rd Republic is 18 years old, and in this time, each state has been ruled by its own indigenes.
In the past 18 years, how has the lot of States in Nigeria improved compared with the days of military rule?
Have the Western elites significantly developed the West? No.
Have the Eastern elites significantly developed the East?
No.
Have the Southern elites significantly developed the South? No.
Have the Northern elites significantly developed the North? No.
So our biggest problem in Nigeria is not our inability to coexist as a nation of diverse tribes and religions. Our biggest problem is the strongly entrenched system of political elites that will gladly raise the dust of tribe and religion to distract our attention from the massive diversion of public wealth for personal gain.
In all honesty, I have to commend the elites for their political savvy displayed in their ability to keep the citizenry occupied with every other issue but the most important/pressing issue.
It cannot be easy to distract people with the exact same lie for 20 years without the people catching on.