Who Speaks for the North? Politics and Influence in Northern Nigeria (original) (raw)
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NIGERIA North South Dichotomy and the Politics of Supremacy
Festus Asikhia , 2021
Nigeria has battled to retain unity and harmonious coexistence for her government and people since independence. Violent ethnicity, religious prejudice, pork-barreled, brutal politics of excessive favoritism, and corruption have wreaked havoc on Nigerian politics, particularly in recent years. There hardly appears to be a comprehensive or straightforward means to research Nigeria's political climate and culture. Since 1914, the Northern agenda of using politics to govern Nigeria in a dictatorial manner has been in progress and was heavily fortified by the considerable presence of Northern senior officers at various levels of the military during the over three decades of military rule in the nation. This trend continued unabated in the current democratic dispensation and has seen the North receiving a large chunk of political appointments and federal allocations for physical and human capital development projects. In contemporary times, legislations have now been employed by Northern political forces to ensure a solid control over the polity of the nation and subjugation of the South. This article considers the recent legislation of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the New Electoral Act, the Grazing bill, and some other legislation that has been politically conspired to favor the North and allow their politicians to maintain firm control over Nigeria.
The Northern Region of Nigeria is the largest of all the three in geographical size, human and material resources. It was the most prominent and influential region in Nigeria's political affairs during the pre and post independence periods. These have however, been waning overtime and it is so intense that the region is today despised, manipulated and politically relegated to the background of national political-economy.. The Northern region is in dilemma as regards multitudinous problems it is facing. This article used secondary sources of data and explored the emergence, nature and history, significance, past and present state of the Northern Region in relation to unity, prosperity and peaceful being of Nigeria. The North was prominent because of the purposeful internal leadership and to some degree the justice it had enjoyed and enjoined; its ability to make proper exploitation of its both human and material resources, the ability of its people to weld under one umbrella irrespective internal heterogeneities, abandoning agriculture for commercial oil has largely contributed to the present state of affairs, the North has every potentially to make of a nation or state if properly explored and harnessed as the lost glory can still be revived, the level of poverty and backwardness of the North are not natural but for the negligence, indolence and negligence of its subsequent leadership. The article recommended among others, full exploitation of both human and material resources bestowed to the region, re-establishment of true and purposeful leadership and then unity in the entire region, and building of trust, justice among all the regional people, development, strict implementation and sustenance of a comprehensive plan for development of the region and the issue of education should be given a top priority throughout the region.
CENTRAL NIGERIA IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: QUESTIONING THE 'ONE NORTH' TEMPLATE
The contemporary challenges of marginalisation, domination, suppression and subordination of the Middle Belt Region by her Northern counterpart are products of the British imperialist government. Before this period, the various ethnic nationalities straddling the Central and Northern Nigeria were at different stages of evolution as social formation and they also had different patterns, degrees and levels of inter-group relations which would be of advantage to the dominant group in this case, the Hausa/Fulani. It was on this basis that late J.S Tarka led a minority agitation demanding for the creation of a Middle Belt Region. This quest in essence was a vital instrument of defining the plight of the minor ethnicities in the Northern Region. However, the colonial administration rejected the Middle Belt out-cry through the Willinks Commission, this historical legacies of colonialism ushered in unbridled political and economic exploitation that sapped Middle Belt peoples' cultures of their vitality. The paper therefore questioned the template of 'One North' by unveiling issues of cultural, political and economic marginalisation and the contemporary challenges of ethno-religious conflicts and incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen in this region. The paper therefore opines that, the envisaged National conference/dialogue if well articulated without prejudice would tackle the unresolved political, socio-economic, religious and cultural problems which threaten the harmonious and peaceful co-existence of Nigeria a corporate entity.
Indiana Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences , 2022
Article History Received: 05.04.2022 Accepted: 20.04.2022 Published: 30.04.2022 Citation BADMUS, B. G., & LAFENWA, A. S. (2022 Northern Hegemony versus Southern Aversion: The Politics of Restructuring in Nigeria and its Implications for National Unity. Indiana Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(4), 7-14. Abstract: The agitation for political restructuring or what has been popularly termed „true federalism‟ is not peculiar to Nigeria alone; perhaps, the quest for restructuring has become prodigious in most derailed federal systems where there are prevalence of misrule, unfair sharing of power and resources, ethnic domination/marginalization, mutual distrust among federating units and where there is persistence shift in power configuration towards unitary or centralized system. This study argues that, there are new compelling factors that are currently driving the agitation for restructuring in Nigeria; such as surge of inter/intra-border crimes, incessant banditry activities, wanton killings by insurgents and Boko-haram terrorism, high spate of kidnapping and armed robbery, frequent cult clash within the major cities, outrageous attacks on farmers by herdsmen, and overall palpable fear of general insecurity across the nation which is quite a shift from the previous propelling factors like issues of resource control, power sharing and equitable distribution of national resources and political appointments among others which were at core of the quest for restructuring particularly, by majority of political stakeholders from the Southern parts of the country. This study therefore, concludes that Nigeria may be sitting on the „gun powder‟ if the opportunity to renegotiate the future of its federalism and the national coexistence are foreclosed under the pretence of non-negotiable unity of the country. Keywords: Hegemony, Political Restructuring, Federalism, Politics, Democracy.
POLITICS AND POWER STRUGGLES IN NIGERIA (1945-1999)
This historical survey examines the nature of politics and power struggles in Nigeria between 1945 and 1999. This period of over five decades is significant because it has lasting legacy on political culture and formation of political parties and associations, bloc building and orientation for Nigerian citizenship, the institutions of government and decision making process and mechanisms for participation in governance and Nigeria’s democratic process. Experience of power play and struggles in this period of Nigeria’s modern political history is interesting to study because it fuelled an emerging, diverse political interests enmeshed in ‘regional’ and ‘ethnic’ politics within the nation’s federal system. Nigeria contended during the period with various forms of intra-communal and inter-communal conflicts – from religious, ethnic, political conflicts to trade union, labour struggles and other forms of industrial and economic conflicts . No doubt, the dramatis personae that influenced group formation and peoples’ aspirations in the social strata towards manifesting a seemingly diverse cultural sensibility or sensitivity and identity in the historical process would be discussed with a view to understand and appreciate their position and approaches to an organized, modern state system that is built on platforms to struggle for and sustain Nigeria’s independence as a modern African State. The period of study invariably provide gainful insight into the total sum of citizens’ views and group aspirations in Nigeria’s federal system by reviewing the role of media and other platforms of public opinion (people) and opinion public (elites) which reinforced the recurrent decimal for agitations and struggles for access to power and equitable distribution of national resources. The period (1966-1979) and (1983-1999) also highlighted military’s intervention in politics and administration of Nigerian State, though an aberration, but regarded in some quarters as patriotic impetus or nationalistic aspiration to save the institution of the State and stabilize political culture from derailing. Military incursion in politics was also traced to the public opinions and yearnings at the initial stage by the Press, the academia and the political class who wanted sanity, fair-play and public discipline in governance and those who aspire to stabilize the policy arena in promoting national unity, survival and consciousness. No doubt, Military interventions and heated public arena had constantly resulted to ‘cultural profile of rampant militarism and praetorianism’ that influenced Nigeria’s political behaviour and culture for long. At the same time, Nigeria’s public service during the period of study with the various reforms introduced for the determination of public policy process, the arena and attitude of public institutions failed to achieve desirable stability and performances . A summation of the historical experience and trends of political development in the Nigerian State re-echoes thus: In the Nigerian or African sense of it, the situation is carried to an extreme, as getting what or authoritative allocation is done without deference to the rule of the game. Politics in Nigeria has turned out to be a means of mindlessly appropriating the resources of the state to serve one’s interest. This explains Nigerian leaders’ ferocious pursuit of political domination and their engrossment with survival as against development…Post-colonial politics in Nigeria was scripted in the calculus of power, and this script has being the political template for the First, Second, Third and Fourth Republics, let alone the ‘perennial’ interregnum of coup-ridden, power-drunk military regimes. Electoral contests were governed by intimidation, rigging and violence and not by the norms of free and fair rules…the do or die or rather win at all cost attitude to politics has been the result of the largesse and spoils of office available for distribution to their retinues’ The study is to help enhance the knowledge of history in the areas of examination and discussion of group activities and participation, and the individual political aspirations and interactions with its attendant implication for social and political development of the Nigerian State. The concentration of the study will be limited to the ingenuity of identifying issues of contests in the power play, access and struggle for powers owing to the aspirations and essence of the political groupings in Nigerian politics and the patronage that often determines the course of public policy making in the articulation of leadership ambitions and promotion of ideals of good governance. The broadness of the subject could hamper the study from concentrating on every political issue that affected or influenced large segments of Nigerian people and society. Hence, the study would concentrate on issues that affect the scope of party politics and electioneering issues, leadership aspirations in the political process and policy arena and the role of affiliations through ethnic and regional perspectives to intricacies of power struggle.
Nigeria: Frustration, Polarization, and Violence
2017
Hashim, Kew, and Walker highlight Nigeria as a unique case where oil wealth greatly outpaces development and peacebuilding aid, and peacebuilders remain unclear on how to address globalized religion and to counteract divisive global trends that have an impact on local violence dynamics. In this context, donors have little leverage and influence, especially among state elites. The primary donor modality, therefore, is the use of programs that focus on civil society capacity building. They argue that statebuilding efforts provide elites with access to donor resources that have been allocated to particular regions and identity groups for political purposes. To date, there is evidence that social cohesion interventions have been effective at the hyper-local level. Peacebuilding programs, however, have not had a detectable impact at national level where ethno-religious bi-polarization remains a key driver of inter-group frustration and conflict.
CRISES OF FEDERALISM IN NIGERIA AND THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE BELT REGION
Abstract The need for a virile federal structure that recognizes and responds positively to the interest of the constituent minor groups is imperative, if the Nigerian federalism must address upsurge of ethnic consciousness that has metamorphosed in the increasing recruitment of ethnic militia, from the Odudua People’s Congress (OPC) of the West to Fulani herdsmen in the North; the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the East, The Middle-Belt agitation for egalitarian accommodation in the context of the North and the Egbesu in the South-South region, agitations are ubiquitous. The paper seeks to clinically juxtapose the nature and dynamics of suppression and subordination with implication for national development in the Middle-Belt, using the secondary method of data acquisition from the federalist panorama with the view to x-raying challenges and prospects of the Nigerian federalism in tranquilizing minority domination. It is the finding of the paper that prevailing political exigency within northern Nigeria have further accentuated the multifarious fault-lines unmasking the antitheses betwixt ethnics. Barefaced in ethnic- antagonism consequent upon suppression and domination particularly by the Hausa/Fulani ethnic extraction, and the perpetual confinement of other minorities to the cocoons of economic and political abandonment, a situation of use and dump in the aftermath of the battle for scarce national resources “the national cake.” Keywords: Federalism, ethnicity, Middle-Belt, Politics.