In 2014, I was selected to deliver a paper at a conference on “Youth, Social Movements and Social Networks in Africa” in Tunis organised by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. It was an all-expense paid trip. I had my return flights and hotel accommodation booked but the organisers could not coordinate with the Tunisian interior ministry to get us visas beforehand. As the conference date drew nearer, the organisers secured the written permission of the Tunisian authorities for us to travel to Tunisia and get our visas on arrival.
I arrived the airport at 4 am for my 6 am flight, and even though I had the official letter allowing me to travel to Tunis and indicating I will receive a visa on arrival, the Nigerian immigration and airport authorities would not allow me board the plane. All my elaborate explanations and later, pleas, fell on deaf ears. According to them, unless the Tunisian authorities write them directly, I will not be allowed to fly. By 5.40 am, after passengers had almost finished boarding the plane and I realised I may not travel, I tried one last-ditch attempt.
I had suspected from the nametag of my chief tormentor, that he is Idoma from Benue state. After exhausting all options, I drew him aside and asked him in Idoma why he was hell-bent on refusing me to travel? I never expected the reaction I got from him. In shock, he asked me the name of my village. I told him and he angrily asked me why I had not told him I was Idoma since.
Well, I not only made the trip, the man personally escorted me to board the plane with instructions on how to navigate any immigration challenges I might encounter on my stopover in Casablanca.
So much has been written and said about ethnicity, ethnic affiliations and ethnic politics in Africa. Not that ethnicity or even ethnic politics is unique to Africa though. Ethnic nationalism is so rife in Europe that the continent is balkanised into tiny nation states who insist that the nation must cohere with the state.
Our yardstick for measuring the success of elected and appointed officials is usually how nepotistic their administration was and not the real impact it had on the lives of the people of the group
We do not enjoy such luxury in Africa. Due to the colonial experience and even natural factors, nation-states are not practical or feasible in Africa. But also, the severe weakness and dysfunctionality of the modern or artificial state also forces people to identify first and foremost with the only group that is available and constant to them- the ethnic group. Sadly, the colonial powers failed to unify the various ethnic groups or create a sense of loyalty to the state. In fact, in most cases, they made the ethnic group the basis for representation in the colonial states. So, even with independence, the various ethnics groups or more appropriately, elites from the ethnic groups have been in constant competition with one another to capture the state and use it for the benefit of their ethnic groups.
That is why, for instance, in Nigeria and Kenya, elections basically remain ethnic censuses, especially for the main candidates and their ethnic groups. Even for the ordinary man and woman on the street who does not have much to gain politically and regardless of their level of education, he/she finds it extremely hard to resist the ethnic dog whistle. This is because, even though they profess allegiance to the state, in reality and in their minds, their real loyalty lies with the ethnic group and the advancement of the interest of the group.
But the most destructive aspect of ethnicity in Nigeria and most part of Africa is that it is pursued for its own end and not even for the advancement of the group. We place ethnicity over competence in appointments, over institutions, over justice and even over common sense. Our yardstick for measuring the success of elected and appointed officials is usually how nepotistic their administration was and not the real impact it had on the lives of the people of the group.
Nigerian politicians and administrators are more keenly aware of this fact and have ensured Nigerian government and politics is all about rotation of power among the various ethnic groups and nothing else. So, regardless of how abysmal the Muhammadu Buhari government was and his inability to protect them from Boko Haram and the swats of bandits operating in the Northwest, his ethnic kith and kin still queued behind him in 2019 because he is the most nepotistic president they’ve had.
The Yorubas would like to distance themselves from this accusation, citing their rejection of Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1999 election as example. But the reality was that in 1999 they were spoilt for choice. Evidence! In 2003, the Yoruba party – AD did not bother to present a presidential candidate and they all queued behind Obasanjo.
In 2015, the Yoruba elite camouflaged their ethnic agenda on a need to transform the country and align the southwest region with the centre. However, in 2019, when the failures of the administration and the deep dissatisfaction of the people could not be disguised or hushed over, all pretences to policy appeals were abandoned and the leading Yorubas in the administration (vice president Yemi Osinbajo and infrastructure minister, Babatunde Fashola) became ethnic champions, reminding their fellow Yorubas that it will be their turn in 2023 to rule but only if they vote for Buhari again in 2019. Were they successful? You bet!
When the government sent in troops to shot at unarmed peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate in October, many commentators were of the view that singular act has ended Tinubu, Osinbajo and Fashola’s political careers. I argued then that such assessment was naive at best. They underestimate the power of ethnic politics in Nigeria. I argued that regardless of the grievance in October, these ethnic champions “will bet on the short memory of Nigerians and the appeal of ethnic politics to rally the southwest to their course in 2023”.
Well, just two months after, the events of October have been forgotten. Yorubas – including long-term adversaries of Tinubu – are closing ranks and insisting on Yoruba presidency in 2023.
