I have now come to why I say the Igbos, Hausas and Fulanis are the nation’s problem, contrary to the claim of many a people of the other ethnic groups, especially in the South, who say the cap better fits the Yorubas. Like the owners of GSM numbers 081 – 3865 – 8901 (who identified himself as an Akwa Ibom man), Mr. Okereke (070 – 6742 – 3024) and those who got in touch anonymously by text messages through 080 – 5476 – 2585, 080 – 5432 – 4630 and 081 – 3703 – 7051. The reasons they gave for their opinion will come up in due course.
To be sure, I am not imputing that the descendants of Oduduwa and some other ethnic groups are also not part of the country’s problem. How can I or any reasonable person say so? What with the bestial roasting to death of political opponents and wanton destruction of property in the Western Region (Yoruba land) during the Action Group (AG) crisis of 1962 – 66. Which led to the explosive national situation that culminated in the first military coup in the country on Saturday, January 15, 1966. And not forgetting the uprisings in Ibadan in 1969 and 70 of the farmers known as Agbekoya (Yoruba for farmers reject suffering) which also caused national anxiety.
What about the April 1990 abortive coup of the Army officers from the South – South and North – Central zones and the rebellion of Niger Delta militants in the last one year, whose blowing up of oil installations in their region in recent months, has adversely affected the country’s economy. There were also the armed revolts during the First Republic of the Tivs in the Middle Belt in the 1960s.
But in spite of these past and present incidents by the other tribes, I have put the garland of blame of the major cause of Nigeria’s problem on the Igbos, Hausas and Fulanis because they are the genesis of the unending instability in the country in the last 50 years. The Igbos with the ill – fated putsch of Saturday, January 15, 1966 staged by four of their Majors in the Army and a Yoruba – born Major, led by Major Emmanuel Ifeanjuana from the Eastern Region, a Brigade Major in Lagos, were the first to carry out a coup in the country. While they and the duo of the Hausas and Fulanis have been the only ones to take up arms to secede. The Igbos carried out their own in 1967 and have been threatening another one in the last two years or so. While the Hausa – Fulani through the Boko Haram insurgents have been at theirs in the last seven years.
One accusation made on June 1 against me by Fulani – born Attahiru (080 – 3588 – 7800) was that we Southern journalists stay in our regions of the country and write false stories about the North we have not visited and know little or nothing about. He said the North – East is peopled mostly by the Kanuris and other ethnic groups, but yet I was claiming that Boko Haram insurgency is by the Hausas and Fulanis. On this he lied against me!
Like all the 17 states in the South there is none of the 19 states in the North and Abuja that I have not been to. I started visiting the North in 1968, but got to reach all the states in the region when I was the Executive Director of Concord Press of Nigeria in-charge of State Operations from 1991 – 94. I visited and was received in audience by the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano and the Shehu of Borno during that time. I used to travel by plane from Lagos to either Abuja, Minna, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto or Maiduguri and journeyed by road from one town to another or from one state to the next one. So, it is not only the principal towns that I know in the North. I slept for a night or two in each of Abuja, Minna, Jos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano, Bauchi, Yola, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Lokoja and Ilorin.
From the information obtained last Saturday from a reader of my column who is from a state in the North – Central zone and has been living in the North – East in the last 19 years.
To be continued next week Wednesday


Rounding off Yoruba/Benin ancestry dispute (3)

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Without doubt, Chief Jacob Egharevba’s claim that Obagodo from Ile – Ife and the first ruler of the Ogiso dynasty in Benin was the son of Oduduwa cannot be true. Because according to Oba Arisco Osemwengie, the current Ogiso of Benin, a descendant of the Ogiso dynasty, in an advert in the Vanguard of Tuesday, May 17, 2016, his ancestors produced 32 kings who ruled Benin for 300 years. That means from 880 – 1180, the year Eweka 1 who ruled until 1246 ascended the throne and established the royal line that has been superintending over Benin from then till date.
If Eweka 1 who was the son of Oranmiyan, who was himself either a son or grandson of Oduduwa, began reigning as from 1180, that meant that Oduduwa must have arrived in Ile – Ife in the second half of the 11th century or the first half of the 12th century. So, he could not have been the father of Obagodo who reigned in Benin in the 9th and 10th centuries. Obagodo must therefore have been the son of one of the kings in Ile – Ife before Oduduwa arrived from Saudi Arabia and overthrew their dynasty. As I had shown when I did the main story on the Yoruba/Benin ancestry dispute, Oduduwa was not the founder of Ile – Ife. Neither did his sons or descendants establish the towns attributed to them in Yorubaland.
Continues next week