Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wariboko's Essay on Majority-tribe Privilege in Nigeria

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"One of the most important manifestations of historical arrest and

stagnation in colonial Africa is that which commonly goes under the

title of 'tribalism'. That term, in its common journalistic setting, is

understood to mean that Africans have a basic loyalty to tribe rather

than nation and that each tribe still retains a fundamental hostility

towards its neighbouring tribes. The examples favoured by the capitalist

press and bourgeois scholarship are those of Congo and Nigeria. Their

accounts suggest that Europeans tried to make a nation out of the

Congolese and Nigerian peoples, but they failed, because the various

tribes had their age long hatreds; and, as soon as the colonial power

went, the natives returned to killing each other. To this phenomenon,

Europeans often attach the word atavism, to carry the notion that

Africans were returning to their primitive savagery. Even a cursory

survey of the African past shows that such assertions are the exact

opposite of the truth....

"The civil war in Nigeria is generally regarded as having been a tribal

affair. To accept such a contention would mean extending the definition

of tribe to cover Shell Oil and Gulf Oil! But, quite apart from that, it

must be pointed out that nowhere in the history of pre-colonial

independent Nigeria can anyone point to the massacre of Ibos by

Hausas or any incident which suggests that people up to the 19th

century were fighting each other because of ethnic origin. Of course

there were wars, but they had a rational basis in trade rivalry, religious

contentions, and the clashes of political expansion. What came to be

called tribalism at the beginning of the new epoch of political

independence in Nigeria was itself a product of the way that people

were brought together under colonialism so as to be exploited. It was a

product of administrative devices, of entrenched regional separations, of

differential access by particular ethnic groups into the colonial economy

and culture." Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

Biko

On Sunday, 6 November 2022 at 14:58:31 GMT-5, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:

Out on a limb here:

There are features that are typically Nigerian and as regular as the clockwork phenomenon of " two Jews, three opinions "

Wherever two Nigerians, e.g. a Hausa/Fulani-man from the Muslim North (Allah) and an Igboman from the Holy Trinity Enclave in the East, or an Igbo-man (Chukwu) from Eastern Nigeria and a Yoruba-man (Olorun) from Western Nigeria meet, it could be as friends and compatriots over a cup of coffee in the most cosmopolitan London or New York City, and when the fortunate or unfortunate subject matter happens to be politics or is political that pops up they will most readily agree with fundamentals such as that "Africa Must Unite" agreed - no problem, and they will agree about the scourge of corruption that's wrecking the country but further into causes and where and how it all began, some heavy if not ominous disagreements are more than likely to erupt and they are liable to generate at least three opinions even on matters of common ground, common knowledge, common interest…

As Kipling the most famous poet of British Imperial History puts it at the very beginning of his The Ballad of East and West 

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth! "

 (As far as religious and ethnic differences go, sadly, inevitably, with the new political realities of this world's superpowers' involvement in the Middle East, the quarrel between Israel and the Pals portends a more volatile armed conflict erupting very soon. Hopefully,  with so much identity politics and religious fervour at play, it will not be ditto in Nigeria, at least, as of yet,  there is no military solution on the horizon in Nigeria. ) 

The erudite quibbling now @ ad nauseam, about the correct word that applies in His Majesty's English, whether it's a bloody shame, unsound, unjust, inappropriate and illiterate and that anthropologically or sociologically and maybe politically speaking too, "Nigerian ethnicities" should be substituted for the downright, outdated idea of "Nigerian tribes" is beside the point, when no matter what it's being properly or improperly called, the damage is being done on a daily basis. For example, recently when Professor Agbaje was kidnapped on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the initial reaction from my source of information was that as usual the dastardly act had been perpetrated by the Fulani boys, the criminals, highway robbers, "hoodlums"...

It's equally disingenuous to opine, "tribalism no dae" or "don't exaggerate". If that should be even remotely the case, then why is everybody talking about it ( TRIBALISM)  non-stop?

If tribalism no dae, or tribalism is not as bad as it is being made out to be, and "don't exaggerate" were remotely the case, then the painful reminder has to be,  then, what were the pogroms in Northern Nigeria and what was and is the Biafra idea all about? 

One answer could be that things are much, much better now and the causes of that tragedy are now dissipated/ vanished into thin air and are only a thing of the past, IPOB, Operation Python Dance 1, 2. 3. 4, and the court's final verdict on upstart Nnamdi Kanu still pending, notwithstanding…

It was more than ten years after the Biafra tragedy that Prince Nico Mbarga himself a victim of distinctively Igbo ethnicity was busy highlighting the perennial Nigerian dilemma in his 1981 hit: Tribalism 

I was in Nigeria from 1981-84, unbiased and unaligned but not an impartial first-hand eye witness, observing what I understood was happening and my testimony is reliable 

All that it takes is some goodwill from all sides and then the problem under review would not be insurmountable, although we have been burdened by it for many centuries and it is this ethnic element that has been contributing so viciously to disunity, the " divide and rule" policy was used by the impies, has been and is continuously being exploited by local politicians and the ethnic card is, of course, being played ( as always) and not only by some no good doers particularly in the runup to the  2023 Nigerian Presidential Elections. 

Where is the centre of gravity of the three main contestants to be found if not at where and what they consider to be their ethnic bases? ( In the recently concluded Swedish Elections, it's reported that the Sweden Democrats, said to be extreme right and anti-immigration, did not bother to campaign in the strongly immigrant neighbourhoods such as Rinkeby and Tensta.

"We are all Africans " she said to me,  and "We are all Nigerians" may be true but it's unlikely that Brer Tinubu will be wasting any time campaigning in the heartlands/ ethnic strongholds of Oga Obi's home territories

When the question of Democracy in Africa was being discussed, I was tempted to chip in with the Divine concept of "The Twelve Tribes of Israel'' - each tribe endowed with special propensities and specific workloads, therefore ideally knowing the role of complementary part they have to contribute to the whole harmonious, smooth-running of The nation Israel - so that for instance, when a census was to be conducted  each Israelite had to contribute half a shekel  - "the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less."  - the idea being that "The half-shekel, therefore, emphasises the importance of the commandment, "Love your fellow as yourself."A Jew himself is only a half, incomplete; he becomes whole only when united with another Jew. " 

And there begins the difference between Nigeria and the rest of the world,  namely that the Twelve Tribes of Isreal claim a common ancestor in Aba Abraham and his wife Sarah whereas although the Christian and Muslim world as Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa salaam made clear in his farewell sermon - all mankind,  "We are all descendants of Adam and Eve", yet it could be difficult for the 371 tribes of Nigeria to come together and agree about a common ancestor according to recent history/within living memory/ passed down from generation to generation through any of the various oral traditions… 

As has already been pointed out, after looking at the centuries of wars in Europe, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the First World War, the Second World War, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, NATO's proxy war against Russia, the war clouds hanging over Iran,  it's not only Africa, South Africa,  Sierra Leone, Somalia, that has tribe & clan problems, other international dimensions, India and Pakistan, North and South Korea, and back over there where so many of the contributors to this series, men and women of colour are surviving ``Exactly how would an article entitled "Majority White Privilege in America" read? 

On Saturday, 5 November 2022 at 23:44:08 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:

Is it tribalizing or trailblazing?

One step forward two steps backward

Is it head following tail or could it be the tail

Between his legs following his tribal head?

When Nimi Wariboko the Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics at Boston tells some uncomfortable truths, some people, especially those who are feeling most guilty, just can't take it. 

Rivers 

Notes For A Speech from Amiri Baraka : S.O.S 

There's the racist White-Black tribalism in which apart from a few uncle tom/house negroes who have never, not even once complained about racism in their new habitat, perhaps in their own eyes seeing themselves in their very elevated new status as the boss  white man's new African mascot  - like Man Friday and thereby an extension of White privilege - Big English & bowtie etc, while at the other Black tribalist abroad ( not a tom)  conveniently  takes a position similar to  Malcolm X at that Oxford Union Debate, Dec. 3 1964

Is there tribalism among African-Americans - as distinct from. e.g. johnny-come-lately first and second-generation Nigerian-Americans who only recently arrived in the United States, some of whom I suppose still retain some of the old cultural affinities, loyalties, food habits, traditional animosities/ hostilities, etc towards those they believe to be lower than the vermin they left behind them in s-hole country? 

I ask because  of this Richard Pryor joke : 

 "I think that niggers are the best of people who were slaves, and that's how they got to be niggers 'cause they stole the cream-of-the-crop from Africa and brought them over here. And God, as they say, works in mysterious ways, so he made everybody a nigger…he brought us all over here — the best — the kings and queens, the princesses, the

Invocation To Mr. Parker

On Saturday, 5 November 2022 at 15:33:12 UTC+1 ibdu...@gmail.com wrote:

Still tribalising Nigeria/Africa?  

On Sat, 5 Nov 2022 at 1:57 PM, Nimi Wariboko <nimi...@msn.com> wrote:

Dear Colleagues:

This is an article I published in Punch Newspapers Nigeria yesterday, Friday, November 4, 2022. It is about majority-tribe privilege in Nigeria.

 

Wazobia Republic: The majority-tribe privilege in Nigeria 

Majority-tribe privilege is the advantage the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba enjoy as members of the three big ethnic groups in the country. The mighty advantage of belonging to one of the Big Three, the Wa-Zo-Bia groups, is both unconscious and conscious. For those who enjoy being part of the big tribes, the advantage is unseen to (majority of) them, but it is highly visible to the rest of us that belong to the minority tribes. When national public officials and the media list ethnicities in Nigeria and routinely name Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba, without bothering to mention even one minority tribe, you are reminded that Nigeria is wazobia and the country does not regard your existence. Minority-tribe persons grate under their skin when they hear Wazobia, a portfolio word that reminds them of their exclusion, marginalisation, and irrelevance in the general description of what Nigerian citizenship means. With the way the 2023 elections have become a three-tribe affair, you would be forgiven for thinking they are the only ones in the country.

 

For more, please click the link below:

 

https://punchng.com/wazobia-republic-the-majority-tribe-privilege-in-nigeria/

 

 

Nimi Wariboko

Boston University

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