Indeed, there was a country, apologies to Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s best literary exports. There was also a nation, complete with all the props of nationhood. Nostalgic nudging makes you remember the beautiful past when nationalistic fervor was the anchor of public appointments; when ethnic configurations and religious fault-lines were derobed of their noxious and divisive potency.

Indeed, there was once a Nigeria where the son of nobody could become somebody; where Igbo, Ijaw, Yoruba, Kanuri, Hausa shared the same office space without the one suspecting the other; where your place of abode is considered your home and you’re accorded all niceties and privileges of dwelling there.

Even for those of us who are not old enough to witness that sweet past, history tells us of a pristine past when the embers of hate, cords of ethnicity and bonds of religion had no power over merit and national ethos. A past we wish to relive, a past we hate to loathe but love to lust for. Nostalgia is a crush on a savoury past. And how we crush on yesterday from a today that we destroyed at yesterday’s sunset.

Unfortunately, that yesterday, with all its promises and binding bluster, is stolen. Stolen by a mob of parochial-minded, self-centred leaders who forced their way to the once sacred public space by the butt and barrel of their bazookas. Once the ruinous legion of jack-boot jackals seized the stage, they also reset the norms and mores. They did not only change the verities and virtues of nationhood that were flowering in the minds of Nigerians, they also changed the values of nationalism. And in their place, they birthed the polarizing vile of state of origin, religion, ethnicity, etcetera. In one moment of moral entropy in the polity, that beautiful past was stolen. The march to nationhood was aborted. And now we have it, a nation in tatters, her fabrics bifurcated by primordial sentiments.

These days and these times, communities hosting universities now demand that the vice chancellor of such university should come from their ethnic group or community. Yes, it’s that bad.  Public service appointments are now determined by ethnicity. A minister appoints aides from among his ethnic group, governors make skewed appointments in favour of persons from their ethnic stock or community; presidents ration political appointments according to ethno-religious bearings. Every Nigerian is pulling away from the centre and congregating at kindred outposts and ethnic camps. Nationhood dies!

Sadly, this is happening in the same Nigeria where in 1961, the people of Aba in present day Abia state voted overwhelmingly for Margret Ekpo, a resolute women rights activist of her time, to represent them in Parliament while the people of Abakaliki voted Chief Eyo Bassey to also represent them in Parliament. The same Nigeria where the people of Port Harcourt elected Chief John Umolu, an Edo man from Agenegbode, to represent its municipality in the Eastern Region House of Assembly.

Indeed, there was a country and a nation where in 1959, one Mallam Umaru Yushau, the Sarkin Hausawa or Chief of the Hausa in Onitsha, was elected a member of the Eastern House of Chiefs; a country where in the 1950s,  a Fulani man, Mallam Umaru Altine, was elected the first Mayor of Enugu Municipal Council, an honour he enjoyed twice as he was later re-elected by Ndigbo to be their Mayor. Altine’s case captured most succinctly Nigeria’s unhinged march to genuine nationhood. Here was a man, a Fulani from Sokoto, who had lived in Enugu for barely 5 years. He was accepted by the people of Enugu and he integrated himself into the system. In 1952, Mallam Altine, a Fulani cattle herder, was elected a Mayor, a post he held till 1958.

Altine who was married to an Igbo woman, Esther Ozueh, ran as an NCNC candidate in his first term and won. In the build-up to the elections for his second term, the NCNC leadership asked him to step down for another candidate but he refused and was forced to resign from the NCNC. But fully aware of his popularity and general acceptance among the people, he ran as an independent candidate and trounced the NCNC candidate, D.T Inyang, by 117 to 53 votes. In his ward, he was reported to have been returned unopposed. Just think about this: A Fulani man from Sifawa, a rural commune in the then Sokoto Province, travelled to Enugu, and in less than 5 years, was voted to lead them as their first Mayor. Truly, there was a country, a nation marching boldly to national integration and socio-political inclusivity.

That nation is long lost, stolen. In its stead, we have created a country that runs on the rotor of ethnicity. Created by the military, it now flourishes in the hands of neo-democrats. Cold tribal wars are fought and flaunted openly. Nepotism, not nationalism, guides appointments into public offices. A sitting president will skew political appointments in favour of his people. At the sub-nationals, governors make appointments heavily in favour of their own kinsmen. Others can wait for their turn. No manifest attempt to foster national integration and build nationhood; no effort to promote merit over cronyism and nepotism. This culture of tribal considerations over nationalism destroys the fabrics and crumbles the bricks that build and bind a nation, a people. It’s hard for a Fulani man who has lived in Lagos for decades to contest election in Lagos and win, in spite of the state’s cosmopolitan morphology. This applies to every part of the country. From the east to the west, south-south to the north, Nigerian leaders have erected thick walls of division and the followership have copied the evil formula.

Yet, the same Nigerians who are denied opportunities in their country on account of state of origin or ethno-religious affinity are allowed to thrive overseas including being voted into offices, though their ancestry is Nigeria.

In the 2022 midterm election in the United States alone, eight Nigerian-Americans were elected into top political positions. Segun Adeyina, Gabe Okoye, Solomon Adesanya, Tish Naghise and Phil Olaleye were elected representatives for different districts of Georgia. Carol Kazeem was elected representative in one of the districts 159 of Pennsylvania State.

Oye Owolewa was re-elected into the US House of Representatives (Shadow Representative) in Washington DC, while Esther Agbaje returned to her seat for Minnesota State Representative in District 59B. In Canada, United Kingdom and elsewhere, persons of Nigerian parentage have contested and won election, some were appointed on merit into top positions in the public service. They were not redlined on account of ‘place of origin’ or other primitive considerations. Just merit, competence, and capacity. And there, they contribute to build great nations with buoyant economies where Nigerians at home now run to in search of comfort in an embarrassing Japa exodus.

Back home, we’re still muddling in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw, Fulani, religion, state of origin schisms. And you just wonder, where is that nostalgic Nigeria of the i950s and 1960s that held so much promise of nationhood? The answer stares back at you: Stolen!