There was no geographical entity or sovereignty called Nigeria before 1914. Therefore it is unclear when Nigeria came to be colonized by the British imperialists. Also, it is rather fallacious or subjective to analyse the strength of the ethnicity, in terms of population, of one section or tribe in the so-called Nigeria from the colonial and post –colonial era without any recourse to the majestic pre-colonial era of the more established ethnic groups now forcefully situate in Nigeria project. It suffices then to add that the biased yet forcefully imposed Wazobia philosophy of the so-called three major ethnic groups in Nigeria is not a pre-colonial orientation but a colonial on-slaught on the perceived 'stubborn' ethnic groups by the British, which has left sad legacies, even to this present day. Our problems today were cast in our colonial past.
Consequently, there were smaller or rather not so established groups that were politically empowered by the colonial masters-greatly due to their Willy submissiveness. These groups suddenly found themselves with so much power and sought to do whatever it took to continue from where their masters left off.
Today, Nigeria's political history with its multifaceted myriads of social-economic and developmental problems can be traced to the caricature social-political foundation, a legacy established by the British. That is why state creation has become a venture, which seeks to continue the political domination of the rest of the country. There are major ethnic groups in Nigeria as purported and now taught by the Wazobia three- Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, and as seen in the lumping of other several ethnic groups into geo-political zones.
Now, do the political math; are the Hausa the major tribe in the North-East, North-Central or North-West? What about the Yorubas, are they the only ones in the South-West or the Igbos the only tribe in the South- East?
Again, if there are over 250 spoken languages in Nigeria with a population of over 150 million people, is anyone suggesting that the Wazobia three put together are over a 100 million people? Do the math and you will see it is just a numbers game. It is therefore fallacious to use state creation as a mean of increasing the population of the 'Wazobia three'. The idea now is to create more states in any of the geo-political zones and it would either be; one more for the Hausa (North), Igbo (South-East) or Yoruba (South-west). It is on this formula they share the resources and manpower quota at the expense of justice and fairness. Are we one people in one nation?
Nigerians can no longer endure such ultra-ethno-ideological philosophy of domination because its orientation is colonial and a hindrance to the general development of the entire country. We must not wish away the myriads of problems it has stamped on the overall growth and advancement of the people. Politics of numbers as it were is a colonial mentality and it is seen in; our inability to organize genuine census to determining our actual population, our inability to get competent manpower to run the affairs of government and its functionaries, our inability to make or rather establish firm nationalistic ideologies for growth, poor distribution of educational infrastructure, our inability to sustain the cultural heritage of the people of today's Nigeria… I maintain, the politics of numbers is a Wazobia three lies and should be challenged.
It is no longer a mirage that the level of mistrust has assumed frightening heights in the country amongst the various ethnic groups today.
However, I see hope, a stem in the tide. We must deliberately challenge ideologically these hydra-headed 'demon' that has held our development down! We need a sincere people's of Nigeria referendum because we were all 'forcefully amalgamated' as one in the first place. It is also imperative that we study our demographic history well. Therefore, I repeat, we need a referendum, so as to champion a modern day course for Nigeria, this time, not under colonialist antics but to chart a new course in peace, freedom and liberty. If the present political class fails to unite the country in this regard, poverty will. If they are capitalising on the fragile unity as a result of our ethnicity, poverty will form Nigerians into a united force that no one, not even the world's turbulent history has ever seen or recorded.
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