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12-3-2002
THE POLITICS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD: A RESPONSE TO RITCHIE EJIOFOR
by
Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa B. Sc (HONS) M. Sc Zoology (Applied Entomology)
Acting Director Research, Institute for Contemporary Research (ICR) Kano and General Editor Weekly Pyramid The Magazine
Kano, Nigeria
(ibrahimado@hotmail.com
)
http://www.kanoonline.com/ibrahimado/
The article titled: ‘National Identity Card Scheme Palaver: For their Today…we Give Up Our Tommorrow (sic)’ by Ritchie Ejiofor (www.gamji.com/NEWS636 ) is very interesting especially the attempt to re-write history. This response is also timely because President Obasanjo has renewed his infamous attempt to smuggle the identity card into the electoral law, this most be constitutionally resisted by all those who believe in democracy. He must not be allowed to derail the democratic experiment because of his personal and desperate ambition for second term. Power has made this hitherto statesman drunk and he is now determined to pursue the Afenifere agenda of disenfranchising the north through whatever means especially propaganda and treachery such as the national identity card scheme.
Many statesmen for example General Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Lucky Igbinideon and Alhaji Tanko Yakasai (Daily Trust November 8, 2001 p.29) have spoken against the use of national identity for elections, the Trust group of newspapers have also written editorials on the non-feasibility of this infamous project and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) the umbrella civil organization has written an open letter to His Excellency the President cautioning him on this notorious scheme.
This response will among other things bring the attention of the readers to some historical facts that Afenifere the fascist organization (Usman 1999: 16) and its sympathizers want to eliminate in order to perpetuate their grip on power so as to maintain their economic edge over other Nigerians. Fascism has always been the ideology of this ethnic organization, which it inherited from its parent Egbe Omo Oduduwa as observed by Azikwe’s Pilot newspaper:
Henceforth the cry must be one of the battle against Egbe Omo Oduduwa, its leaders at home and abroad, up hill and down dale in the streets of Nigeria and in the residences of its advocates. . . It is the enemy of Nigeria; it must be crushed to the earth. . . There is no going back, until the Fascist Organization of Sir Adeyemo has been dismembered (Coleman 1986: 346).
It must be added that Afenifere is not a true representation of the Yoruba who are mostly highly respectful broad-based ladies and gentlemen. Afenifere imposes itself on them as acknowledged by Chief Bisi Akande and most of the time through violence by its terrorist organ the OPC.
Afinefere and their sympathizers have always questioned the validity of Nigerian census, which confirmed that the North is more populated than the South. This well orchestrated and systematic propaganda began since the first republic when they attempted to change the census in order to increase their representation in the Federal Parliament. Northern leaders rejected the first census results after independence in 1962 this resulted in “vast migrations of tribesmen back to their “home” regions. Entire new villages were discovered especially in Iboland and the census turned into a political exercise. Obviously, southern Nigerians were determined to wrest power from the Hausa-Fulani by manipulating the results. The federal government forestalled this by condemning the 1962 census and revising the figures. The subsequent southern outcry led to a completely new census in late 1963. The results published in February 1964, showing a majority retained by the northerners, were rejected by the leader of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens” (Ostheimer 1973: 53-54 emphasis mine). This was one of the primary causes of the collapse of the first republic because unfortunately the Eastern Regional government, which was under NCNC followed the Action Group in rejecting the reviewed census figures that was consistent with all previous counts which indicated that the north was more populated than the south (see table 1). The NPC/NCNC coalition collapsed and with it the first republic leading to the disastrous civil war. We pray to God to save us from any disaster that may be inflicted on us by those who are so desperate in their extreme attempt to disenfranchise the North through the national identity card as their forebears manipulated the 1962 census.
Table 1: Population of Nigeria from 1911 to 1991
Regions1911192119311952/531962196319731991
Northern8.12
50.60%10.56
56.41%11.44
57.03%16.84
55.36%22.01
48.60%29.78
53.50%51.38
64.42%46.99
52.81%
Eastern4.505.114.557.2212.3312.3913.7519.40
Western2.152.172.954.608.110.288.9211.73
Mid-Western1.210.780.991.492.402.533.244.76
Lagos0.070.100.130.270.450.682.475.72
Total Southern Nigeria7.93
49.40%8.62
42.64%8.62
42.64%13.58
44.64%23.28
51.49%25.88
46.50%28.38
35.58%
41.61
46.75%
Abuja (FCT)
0.37
0.42%
Total Nigeria16.0518.7220.0630.4245.2955.6679.7688.99
(Modified from Maja-Pearce 1999: 122-123)
The allegation by Ritchie Ejiofor that we are “apostles of Trevor Roper school of thought” it seems he may be repeating the suggestion of the eminent Urhobo historian Professor Peter Ekeh (Ekeh 2001: 1 www.gamji.com/NEWS600.htm), this attempt can in no way diminish the erudite scholarly presentation of Dr. Bala Usman. As far as I am concerned I have no sympathy for the imperialist school of history and the major source of the information, which Ritchie Ejiofor contested, is Professor Akin Mabongunje. The learned Professor of Geography is neither an imperialist historian nor a Muslim cleric. Ritchie Ejiofor resorted to religious harassment in order to discredit my submission which he condemned by this allegation: “This (sic) views and several others religiously relied by the likes of Ado-Kurawa is by no means the report of Muslim cleric who do not acknowledged (sic) the achievement of an unbeliever (infidel)”. Below are the words of Professor Akin Mabongunje that I quoted:
We are thus led to conclude that in the early periods of West African history the role of the forest areas has been that of a refugee zone, providing, albeit temporarily, some degree of security from the aggressiveness of stronger, better organized groups in the grassland region to the north. (Mabogunje 1976: 5)
Professor R. K. Udo also wrote: “It is not surprising therefore that the forests attracted mostly people seeking for refuge from southward pressing groups from the north. The protection offered by the forests is obvious from the experience of the mounted Fulani warriors who had great difficulty in penetrating and fighting in a forest environment” (Udo 1980: 16). I corroborated these observations with other sources and drew my valid conclusions.
There is no way Ritchie Ejiofor can change history. Nobody within the scholarly community can ever compare the civilization of the Sokoto Caliphate with that of any pre-colonial forest kingdoms or “democracies” that later became part of Nigeria. I have to concede without any doubt that the forest peoples have come a long way and they have achieved a lot since the colonial period and the articulation of pre-colonial communities to the global capitalist system. Trade shifted to the coastal areas where the ports are located. These areas are closer geographically and culturally to the dominant capitalist world and therefore they have greater advantage than the hinterland. Hence economically they have become more wealthy but this does not wipe out the over thousand-year tradition of the Savannah peoples.
Even before Nigeria, the Savannah peoples were the first to make the attempt and were largely successful in building a state made up of diverse people as acknowledged by a renowned Nigeria historian:
“The most important theme of our history in the last one hundred and sixty years has been the gradual process of unification. This process may, in a very real sense, be said to have begun in May 1804 when Shehu Uthman dan Fodio declared a jihad, or holy war, in Gobir in north-west corner of Nigeria. Before then, we had the histories of different peoples in Nigeria, sometimes overlapping, but by and large separate. The Fulani jihad was the first event of a truly nationwide significance in our history. Hardly any part of the country entirely escaped its influence. Its effect was considerable on peoples as widely separated as the Yoruba, the Igala and the Kanuri. Above all, it began to knit together inextricably the histories of the Fulani, the Hausa, the Nupe, the Jukun, and a host of other peoples in what is now Northern Nigeria” (Ajayi 1980: 5 emphasis mine).
The process of unification is gradual and it cannot be achieved over night. Violence occurs when one section attempts to dominate the other. The current turbulence is as a result of Obasanjo’s naïveté. His greatest failure is his attempt to please Afenifere by displeasing their arch political rivals and competitors for political power the northern elites whom they refer to sometimes as “Hausa-Fulani” because of convenience as it suits their propaganda scheme. Some other times they isolate the Fulani from the Hausa in preparation for genocide as advocated by the late Bola Ige, who branded the Fulani, “the Tutsis of Nigeria” so as to target them for extermination in flagrant disregard for the sanctity of human life. Obasanjo genuinely thought by pleasing the Afenifere he will make them better Nigerians but he has not succeeded because OPC has continued to unleash violence and the south west, the Afenifere enclave has remained the most politically violent region of Nigeria. That violence has consumed the Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
One of the funniest claims of Ritchie Ejiofor was this: “The Igbo states till date have had republican blend democracy that had all the trappings and semblance of the ancient Greek city states. The mere fact that they did not engage in reckless greed motivated wars shows their levels of civilizations then and established clearly that they lived in harmony and was (sic) never conquered by the so-called “stronger” sahel empires”. For the benefit of Mr. Ritchie the Igbo were not the only stateless communities in the pre-colonial era this was not an inferior status it was just the nature of their social formation. Unfortunately history cannot be changed so no matter how much we love the Igbo and also admire their current success we cannot change their past. The Igbo primitive modes of production during the period could not sustain any strong central authority hence they continued to live in small communities, some of whom did not even know about the existence of each other.
In this case we may have to refer to the words of an Igbo scholar who wrote: “Many times the various Igbo pre-colonial polities did not make any contact whatsoever before colonization, and were even in certain cases oblivious of the existence of one another” (Nnoli 1980: 36). Elsewhere he added: “Among such groups as the Igbo and Ibibio, where the pre-colonial productive forces were under-developed and the mode of production and division of labour were rather rudimentary, socio-economic integration was weak. Similarly central authority was weak” (Nnoli 1980: 61). If one reflects on the size of Eastern Nigeria and then imagine that some communities living there in the pre-colonial era did not know each then they must have been living a primitive life mostly of hunters, gatherers and rudimentary subsistence agriculture. Therefore there was hardly anything to conquer. The slave raiders from the coast enjoyed themselves. So it is very clear that the Igbo did not have large polities to be conquered or defeated in encounters with stronger polities for example the Oyo Alafinate was defeated and forced to shift its capital further into the forest when it could not withstand the forces from Illorin led by the followers of Shehu Usman Danfodio.
History has a great influence on the thinking of a people therefore we should not be surprised at the peculiar behavior of some Igbo intellectuals, politicians and writers. A good example is Professor Ben Nwabueze who has expressed inferiority complex in one of his writings:
The effect of Christianity has been to sharpen the individualism of the southern converts by emancipating them from the grip of custom and its tribal sanctions, and by infusing into them ideas about progress based on superior Civilization of Europe (Sulaiman 1986: 63).
The Muslim Northerners who refused to accept this western superiority earn the rebuke of the Professor who “betrays the dept of his own scholarship” when he unleashed his blind attack on Islam:
The differences between the Muslim North and the South is (sic) also that between conservatives and progressives. By its outmoded customs and laws, Islam has bred in the Muslims of the North a disinclination to change, and an apathy (sic) to new ideas. The Islamic culture, by strangling all progress, was regarded as self-sufficient, an ideal worthy of preservation in the pristine purity. The conservation of the Northerner is perhaps partly a result of intense cultural consciousness infused into him by Islam, a consciousness born out of the belief in the inherent superiority and antiquity of the Islamic culture. The Islamic religion is intolerant of other beliefs and ideas, and its demands upon the life of its adherents are rigid and dominating. It is isolationist and segregationist in outlook, imposing among its members a sense of unity and brotherhood as against all those who are not of the faith (Sulaiman 1986: 63).
The Igbo attempt to mobilize southern solidarity sometimes based on the religious card has always failed and it will continue to fail as it failed during the civil when they ignored the fact that Islam was (and is) not a minority religion in Yoruba land. The active participation of Nwabueze in the Patriots a Southern Christian organization should be appreciated in this respect. Even after the trauma of the civil war the vocal segment of Igbo elites have consistently advocated Southern solidarity as observed thus: “The closest the latter have come to doing so has been to press for southern unity which they argue, is the only antidote to Northern domination. Notable Igbo leaders such as Emeka Ojukwu, Arthur Nzeribe and Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, have strongly advocated this position”(Osaghae 1991: 246).
One Jonas Okwara while responding to Afenifere irredentists Rueben Abati and Modupe Adelaja was so apologetic when he alerted these irredentists that: “The point is, marginalization of Igbos has not and will never help Yoruba interest in any way…..”. The gentleman was calling for solidarity of both peoples against the north the perceived enemy. This was how the Igbo were deceived into the Biafran adventure and the Yoruba took over the crumbs they left. If Mr. Jonas Okwara had done a little historical reflection he will understand that the Yoruba and the Igbo elites are more of competitors with each other than with the northern elites that is why each of them prefers to go into in alliance with the northern elites than with the other. UPGA the most formidable alliance of the two groups (Yoruba and Igbo) was one of the major catalysts for the collapse of the first republic that subsequently led to the civil war.
Even in Lagos were the OPC has made the Hausa speaking people its target the real socio-economic competition is between the Yoruba and Igbo elites. The colonial economy made Lagos the commercial, financial and manufacturing capital of Nigeria and it has remained as such. The northern elites cannot compete with the Yoruba elites in all these areas the Igbo elites are the competitors of the Yoruba. This is because as a result of their proximity to the colonial metropole both groups joined those sectors before the northerners. Therefore it has always been in the interest of each of them to align with the northerners. If the southern minorities and the Igbo could resolve their differences by making the ports of the South-South conducive for import and export, things for them will begin to change. Because of their fear of the Yoruba elites they refused to ask such questions as why is it that the headquarters of most of the oil companies are located in Lagos instead of Port Harcourt?
It is surprising why some extremists Igbo writers still do not have sense of history? They have refused to learn from the biafran defeat and they are still advocating for southern solidarity against the north. If Nigeria disintegrates the Igbo will be the worst losers because the South East cannot contain all of them. The Afenifere will not allow them to continue enjoying Lagos market neither will they have the benefit of peaceful life in the north. Igbo writers should be the vanguard of national solidarity instead of parochial write-ups and they should condemn all forms of marginalization. They should advocate for justice and equity because that is the only logical means of their survival and not by dancing to the tune of Afenifere irredentists.
There is no doubt that the national identity card has many advantages but politicizing it is counter productive. And there is no honesty in the government’s action. Because it has not taken into consideration the logistics involved. Since the card will be produced through a computerized system there must be adequate supply of energy and the government itself has owned up that it has failed in fulfilling its promise of uninterrupted power supply. Some commentators will argue that generators could be used but there is also no steady supply of fuel. Therefore in this respect the identity card is not feasible. The national driving license, which is just like the identity card has not been hitch free despite several years of existence. So why should the rights of citizens to vote be tempered through unfeasible electronically made card? The only answer is that there is a hidden agenda. All lovers of democracy and human rights activists must resist this gross violation of fundamental human rights.
The Edo State governor recently observed that the national identity card project is unpopular and irrelevant. He was reported to have said that “he witnessed the approval of N13 billion by the federal government for the identity card project” this was perhaps in 2001 budget. The governor was very clear when he said that: It is not even good for election. You are only talking of statistics which is not very relevant to us”. The governor advised the federal government to plan the project very well in a way that the national identity card will be issued to children at birth…” (Daily Trust February 21, 2002 p. 18). The National Population Commission lacks the resources to issue birth certificates the most basic responsibility and yet the federal government is willing to spend billions on national identity card. There is no doubt that those involved have a hidden agenda.
According to news reports the government allocated (in 2002 budget) N10 billion to identity card, N3.87 billion to agriculture and N3.7 billion to science and technology (with all its research institutes). While education was allocated N17 billion and Health N14.9 billion despite their importance the national identity scheme received over 50% of their individual allocation. Why is the government willing to spend so much on the identity card project more than its allocation to security and agriculture (Daily Trust November 8, 2001 front page)? The answer is that there is hidden agenda and it does not care about the lives of the citizens as long as that agenda is achievable. So what are the pro-democracy groups and human rights activists waiting for? They must condemn this inhuman project. This government has spent less on education and health proportionally than its military predecessors (The Economist 2001) and yet it is spending people’s money on a politically motivated national identity card project .
Since coming to office this government has made so much noise about its anti-corruption project. Yet Nigeria is still on top of the list of the corrupt countries as assessed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Obasanjo’s patrons. He is always quick to claim that corruption was rampant before he assumed office. The fact is that it is more rampant now at the federal level. Nothing demonstrates this more than the convention of the ruling party the PDP. Even the national identity card scheme is shrouded in deceit because the government refused to take the advice of the United Nations when it awarded the contract. The answer for this recklessness apart from the corrupt disposition is that the government has a hidden agenda.
References:Ajayi, J. F. A. (1980) Milestones in Nigerian History London.
Ekeh, P. (2001) ‘The Mischief of History: Bala Usman’s Unmaking of Nigerian History’ www.gamji.com/NEWS600.htm
Coleman, J. S. (1986) Nigeria: Background to Nationalism Benin City.
Osaghae, E. E. (1991). ‘Ethnic Minorities and Federalism in Nigeria’ African Affairs 90.
Ostheimer, J. M. (1973) Nigerian Politics New York
Maja-Pearce, A. (1999) From Khaki to Agbada: A Handbook for the February, 1999 Elections in Nigeria Lagos.
Mabogunje, A. (1976) ‘The Land and Peoples of West Africa’ in Ajayi, J. F. A. and Crowder, M. (eds) History of West Africa vol. 1 Essex
Nnoli, O. (1980) Ethnic Politics in Nigeria Enugu.
Sulaiman, K. R. (1986) ‘The Shari’ah and the 1979 Constitution’ Rashid, S. K. (ed) Islamic Law in Nigeria (Applications and Teaching) Lagos where Nwabueze, B. Constitutionalism in the Emergent States was cited.
The Economist (2000): A survey of Nigeria January 15th 2000
The Economist (2001) ‘Nigerian economy too much pain little gain’ July 28-August 3, 2001.Udo, R. K. (1980) ‘Environment and Peoples of Nigeria: A Geographical Introduction to the History of Nigeria’ in Ikime, O. Groundwork of Nigerian History Ibadan.
Usman, Y.B. (1999) ‘African peoples and politics in 21st century (4)’ New Nigeria
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