[dropcap]N[/dropcap]igeria gained its independence in 1960 but 7 years later, a major civil war started. It was between the Nigerian government (ruled by Yakubu Gowon) and the Republic of Biafra (led by Odumegwu Ojukwu). The Biafran war took the lives of over 100,000 soldiers and about 2 million civilians which represent the second-highest death toll in African civil wars. Nigeria has not been peaceful since.
There are 3 major ethnic groups in Nigeria:
– Hausa-Fulani: The majority of Muslims located in the north.
– Yoruba: Majority of Christians with a minority of Muslims both located in the South-West.
– Igbo: mostly Christians located in the South-East.
Professor Wole Soyinka who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 was of Yoruban descent.
The main conflict in Nigeria is that people of Biafra (mostly Igbo) want their own separate state to have independence from the rest of the country. After the death of general Ojukwu in 2011, activists from Biafra formed a movement called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) asking for the same old demand which resulted in the death of about 150 people.
To make matters even worse, The Yoruban people also demanded separation from Nigeria to form the Oodua Republic.
50 years of civil war, conflict, death, bloodshed, poverty and famine did not bring about anything positive to see. It is about time to see the application of peace in Nigeria and to see its people united.
My message to the people of Nigeria:
“Only by having a pure heart and rational thinking you can live in peace. Only more harm and evil will be on the way if you do not stand together. Focus on the general good not on personal interests and rise up together as one nation”.
Mohammad Alshereda is a Kuwaiti sociologist who is an international advocate of peace. He is an active writer who publishes articles about peace and promotes the end of violence in the world. He can be reached on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/englishkuwaiti/
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
