Whose South-South?

but that despite an unremarkable performance it must be their Ijaw “brother” or they will return to militancy in the creeks. Naturally not a word has been heard from the Villa cautioning them to keep quiet and not stoke up tensions.Those who claim to own the nation’s oil wealth somehow feel they have the right […]

but that despite an unremarkable performance it must be their Ijaw “brother” or they will return to militancy in the creeks. Naturally not a word has been heard from the Villa cautioning them to keep quiet and not stoke up tensions.
Those who claim to own the nation’s oil wealth somehow feel they have the right to insult everyone else. Minority tribes in Nigeria (the non-Hausa-Fulani, non-Igbo and non-Yoruba) actually comprise the majority as they constitute over 54% of the nation’s population. Southern Minorities made up of 30 ethnic nationalities covering the Niger Delta and adjoining country account form the bulk of this figure, and Northern minorities seem to have been all but forgotten in the political equation. For selfish reasons politicians have grouped all the southern nationalities together under a “South-South” Zone.
Apart from the fact that there is no point on the compass known as “South-south”, it is a dishonest and dangerous proposition to ask people of varying biodiversities, languages, culture, civilization, region and world outlook to come together under one political zone pretending as if differences don’t exist, or that they don’t matter. This isn’t to say that the coming together of all the ethnic nationalities of the South (outside of the two major tribes of Igbo and Yoruba) and creating a geopolitical unit should be taken as the coming together of total strangers. On the contrary it is the bringing together of Edo-speaking, Ibibio-speaking, and the Ogoni-speaking peoples who inhabited what was known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate. However the truth is that until the prospect of independence came close, the tendency within Nigeria (as in other parts of Africa) was for tribal differences to become less acute. Endowed natural resources have been both a blessing and a source of troubles for the Niger Delta, and the struggle for control and allocation of them began over a century ago. The politics of oil produced the first nationalists in the Niger Delta.
These were African merchant Kings who insisted their trade in palm oil must bring a fair deal to the area. Europeans marked them as threats to “legitimate trade” and proceeded to terrorize and eliminate them. King William Dappa Pepple of Bonny was an early casualty. Jaja of Opobo was another. Nana Olomu of Itsekiri was next. Later Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi the King of the Bini Empire was dealt with. Political agitation of minorities for states or regions began in 1950 when Dr Nnamdi Azikwe decided to return to the East after his victory at the elections in the Western Region was turned into defeat by “carpet crossing”.  To get Azikiwe enthroned as leader of the Eastern Party and remove Prof Eyo Ita, a civilian “coup d’état” was staged and it became clear that no matter his exemplary integrity it would be impossible for any non-Ibo to ever be permitted to lead in the East.  A movement to campaign for the creation of a State or Region for the non-Igbo ethnic minority groups of Eastern Nigeria who were basically the inhabitants of the provinces of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers was inaugurated at Uyo in 1953.
Over time five states have been created for the southern minorities, and even this has not brought appreciable development to the peoples of the area.  Although the depressed oil producing areas contribute about 60% of what goes into the distributable federation account, only about 15% is distributed to them creating the paradox that the richest States in Nigeria in terms of revenue source are at the same time amongst the poorest in terms of development. But who should be blamed?  The problem is not only a lack of funds but their misapplication. Their “son” President celebrates treasury looters and awards them with appointments, immunity and Presidential pardons. The simple truth is that because of poverty, backwardness and poor development the neglected people of these areas are not able to participate in the wealth from their areas, and their leaders while blaming the rest of the nation for their backwardness enrich themselves thriving on the lack of capacity of their people.
In January 1958 the Willink Commission singled out the Ijaw Division and had this to say. “The country in which they live is divided by creeks and inlets of the sea and of the Niger into many small islands which nowhere rises above the highest tides and floods. In this area the construction of roads or railways would be prohibitively expensive. Theirs is a country   which through no fault of man has been neglected and which is unlikely ever to be highly developed”. Even with their “son” in office nothing has really changed for the bulk of these people.  The Willink Commission also recommended the establishment of a Council of Edo Affairs made up of the Benin, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ishan and part of the Afenmai Divisions.
When and how therefore did Edo people become part of a “south-south” agenda? It was the problem of the Eastern minorities with the Ibos that caused them to look towards the more accommodating Edo speaking peoples for political alignment, and decide they must be in charge. Edo people have always been part of a southern-minorities agenda but only the politicians in their insatiable greed for power recognize the “South-South” nomenclature. Edo people have no hand in threatening the rest of Nigeria in the name of “south-south”. What the Willink Commission feared has come true. The commission said that a recognizable ethnic group should not from a political unit. They said at the time that “it would be a pity if when Nigeria achieves independence separate states are created which enshrine tribal separation in a political form. In such circumstances it seems likely that differences would grow steadily stronger.  Is this not the case today?