The Igbos and the Two Nnamdis: The Tragedy of Reality Denial

[Oyeniyi Bukola Adeyemi]

The Igbos and the Two Nnamdis: The Tragedy of Reality Denial

 

The Tragedy of Reality Denial describes situations in which individuals or groups refuse to accept factual information or evidence, often to the detriment of themselves or their societies. This phenomenon can be observed in various contexts, including politics, science, and history. Psychologists believe that the factors underpinning reality denial include cognitive dissonance, self-motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, identity, and group affiliation, among others. Sociologists, on the other hand, suggest that reality denial is rooted in issues like socialization, convoluted social norms, fear, uncertainty, and social pressure. Historians argue that reality denial can be caused by historical revisionism, propaganda, deliberate forgetting, selective remembering, ethnonationalism, and more.

 

As history shows, the expected coalition government in the post-independence era was supposed to be formed between Chief Nnamdi Azikwe (referred to as Zik) and Chief Obafemi Awolowo (referred to as Awo). Following the 1959 election, Ahmadu Bello's NPC won 142 of the 312 seats in Nigeria's Federal House of Representatives, Zik's NCNC won 89 seats, while Awo's AG won 73 seats. Since none of the parties could form a government, Awo approached Zik, proposing that, given the circumstances, a coalition between NCNC and AG would serve Nigeria best. Awo offered Zik, as the leader of the supposed coalition with more members in parliament than Awo's AG, the role of Nigeria's first independent prime minister, while Awo would become the finance minister.

 

However, instead of joining forces with Awo, Zik formed an alliance with the NPC. Zik did not inform Awo of his decision; Awo heard about it in a public broadcast by British Governor-General James Robertson. In that announcement, Robertson appointed Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister, citing that he represented the largest party in the House of Representatives, and appointed Zik as Governor-General, stating he was a "junior coalition partner." Zik's decision, which he justified as an attempt to prevent the North from breaking away from Nigeria, resulted in him receiving a ceremonial post as Governor-General, devoid of real power.

 

As things turned out, Zik's betrayal marked the end of his ambition to lead Nigeria, which he never realized in his lifetime.

 

As a historian, we often confront "What if?" scenarios.

 

"What if?" scenarios in historical scholarship involve the exploration of alternative outcomes or events that did not occur but could have shaped history differently. These scenarios are often speculative and serve as a thought experiment rather than a rigorous analysis of actual historical events. What if the American Revolution had failed? What if the Industrial Revolution had not happened in England? What if World War I had been avoided? What if Awo and Zik had teamed up to lead Nigeria at independence in 1960? While these "what if" questions can stimulate historical thinking and discussion, it's important to recognize that they fall into the realm of counterfactual history, which doesn't adhere to the conventional standards of historical research. Nonetheless, "what if" questions can be valuable for considering the complexity of historical causality and the interconnectedness of events.

 

What if Awo and Zik had teamed up to lead Nigeria at independence in 1960?

 

Certainly, there would not have been the first military coup and the Biafran Civil War. In other words, Igboland and its history would certainly have been different than it is today. If there was no military coup and no Biafra War, the history of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu would have been different, too. There would have been no Nnamdi Kanu, no IPOB, no ESN, and the turmoil that now defines Igboland, thanks to Nnamdi Kanu and his group of terrorists, would not exist.

 

When I wrote that Nnamdi Kanu orchestrated the burning of Lagos in the name of ENDSARS, many Nigerians of Igbo extraction took to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms to harass and bully me, but it had no effect. They even appealed to my university to terminate my employment. They left hundreds of messages on my phone in their efforts to silence me – to no avail.

 

In essence, they accused me of lying, compelling me to provide evidence to support my claim. Even when I provided incontrovertible evidence of Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB, and ESN as the masterminds behind the burning of Lagos, they did not stop to reconsider their stance for once.

 

Clearly, these Igbos and their cohorts, wherever they may be found, are in a state of reality denial. The cognitive dissonance they are experiencing prevents them from seeing how their self-concept and their actual state, particularly in the context of Nigeria, are in dissonance with reality. To them, the only person in Nigeria is one who selectively processes information to support their preconceived notions while ignoring or downplaying information that contradicts them.

 

When tracing the problems of Nigeria, Chinua Achebe blamed others but not the Igbos, a theme that defined his scholarship. In "There Was a Country," he unabashedly claimed that he and his peers were brought up with a promise: the promise of ruling Nigeria. Regrettably, rather than blaming Zik and Ojukwu for their greed, he adulated himself by scapegoating others. This reality denial has since been embraced not only by Chimamanda Adichie but also by many of Peter Obi's followers.

 

Today, October 20, 2023, marks the three-year anniversary of Nnamdi Kanu's hijacking of ENDSARS and the orchestration of the burning of Lagos. In these past three years, there have been repeated calls for justice for the victims of highhandedness by security forces in their efforts to disperse protesters. However, there has not been a single call for justice for Lagos State, various individuals whose properties were burnt and destroyed, and members of the different security forces who lost their lives during ENDSARS protests.

 

While the ENDSARS protests were ongoing, Nnamdi Kanu was coordinating members of IPOB and ESN, all of whom were Igbos, on his Biafran Radio and on YouTube. On different occasions, Nnamdi Kanu detailed which properties purportedly belonged to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, Sanwo-Olu's mother, and their respective addresses. He also named police officers leading various formations, their children's names, and the schools their children were attending, broadcasting this information to protesters. Protesters from different locations submitted reports in real-time and demanded arms and ammunition during the live-radio broadcasts.

 

Acts like the ones described above are not the actions of protesters but those of terrorists. No nation, regardless of its wealth or poverty, would sit idly by and allow such perfidy to continue unchecked.

 

Despite the fact that evidence of all these actions is publicly available, those who delight in denying reality have not stopped blaming the government for deploying soldiers to quell the ENDSARS protests. In their view, the government should have allowed the protests and the burning of Lagos to continue.

 

No amount of reality denial can erase the fact that Nnamdi Kanu allegedly orchestrated the burning of Lagos, the killing of security operatives, and more during the ENDSARS protests.

 

Reality denial can have significant and far-reaching consequences, including misinformed decision-making, polarization, economic impact, erosion of trust in institutions, inadequate crisis response, social division, loss of empathy, and historical distortion.

 

What if Kanu and his group of terrorists had not hijacked the ENDSARS protests? The history of Nigeria, particularly with regard to the ENDSARS protests, would have been different. Would Sanwo-Olu have won reelection as Governor of Lagos? Even though "what if" scenarios are counterfactual, they serve as a means of accepting reality rather than denying it.

 

Isn't it ironic that, just as was the case in 1959/60 when Zik betrayed Awo and brought a shame on himself, most Igbos see nothing wrong in what Nnamdi Kanu and his group of terrorists are doing to Igboland. They continue to shift blame elsewhere.

 

(c) Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi

October 20, 2023

 

Source: https://nigeriaindepth.com/the-igbos-and-the-two-nnamdis-the-tragedy-of-reality-denial/

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Bukola A. Oyeniyi

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Missouri State University

College of Humanities and Public Affairs

History Department

Room 440, Strong Hall,

901 S. National Avenue

Springfield, MO  65897

Email: oyen...@gmail.com

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

I'm puzzled by the use of 'allegedly"" in this paragraph -

 

"No amount of reality denial can erase the fact that Nnamdi Kanu allegedly orchestrated the burning of Lagos, the killing of security operatives, and more during the ENDSARS protests"

I thought you are so sure of your assertions you would have gone beyond the qualification represented by 'allegedly."

It is also claimed that the violence of the ENDSARS protests was orchestrated by the gov so as to discredit the movement.

One also wonders why the army was drafted to shoot at the Lekki Toll Gate protesters when there was no violence there.

I am of the view that the Lekki Toll Gate protesters, as the most articulate, the best organised and violence free arm of EndSars had become a threat to the traditional parasitic style of governing Nigeria, moving from the earlier focusing on ending Sars to demanding transformations in how the country is run, and garnering huge national and international support in the process, with the Catholic church holding mass at the site, from what I recall, and world leaders in politics and industry lending support as it became a magnet for youth activism, fueled by large donations funneled through innovative financial services, moving to Bitcoin after Flutterwave was blocked by naija govt as the participants demonstrated their vision for Nigeria through philanthropy for people in need who were at the protest site.

The journey continues.

Thanks

Toyin 

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[Oyeniyi Bukola Adeyemi]

1. As a legal terminology, "allegedly" is used in a criminal setting until a court declares a person guilty, he is innocent. 

2. The rest are not related to the substance of my piece.

OBA

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Bukola A. Oyeniyi

*****************************************************************************************************

Missouri State University

College of Humanities and Public Affairs

History Department

Room 440, Strong Hall,

901 S. National Avenue

Springfield, MO  65897

Email: oyen...@gmail.com

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Hmmmm......

I thought that in a general discussion, one could marshall one's reasons for holding a point of view and assert the validity of that point of view.

Your use of "allegedly" suggests to me you are not certain of the validity of your claim, therefore you are leaving room for inadequacies in your analysis.

Also you claimed Nnamdi Kano orchestrated the burning of Lagos.

I presented a contrastive view that the ENDSARS violence was govt created.

One could reframe your assertion as  

"No amount of reality denial can erase the fact that the Lagos State Government allegedly orchestrated the burning of Lagos, and more during the ENDSARS protests"

This presentation of a contrastive point of view on violence by people described as  EndSars protesters leads into the subject of violence against EndSars protesters by the Nigerian govt and the rationale for that violence..

This also relates to the question of the validity of the Igbo vs Yoruba narrative in Lagos politics.

Is it a genuine political development orchestrated by Igbos or an APC ploy to split the electorate in their favour?

Thanks

Toyin

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[Oyeniyi Bukola Adeyemi]

Sir, 

I have previously read the information, and I must express that rehashing it is unnecessary. 

In my earlier response, I characterized it as a diversion primarily due to the fact that the same individuals who made these claims were also the ones who propagated the theory of President Buhari being cloned.

I believe I wrote an article on this subject a few months back, where I criticized Dr. Kperogi for his stance. In my view, when a group of people can generate such outlandish ideas, there are virtually no limits to the absurdities they may conceive. Therefore, regarding the allegation that Nnamdi Kanu orchestrated the destruction of Lagos, if you possess an alternative perspective other than the prevailing "absurdity" espoused by some, suggesting that the Federal Government planned and executed it, I am eager to listen. 

OBA

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[ogunlakaiye]

As Oyeniyi Bukola Adeyemi rightly pointed out, none of the three major political parties in the 1959 December Federal election had majority to form a government. Although the NPC had most parliamentary seats, the combined seats of both the NCNC and the Action Group (AG) were more than that of the NPC alone. Based on that reality, Awolowo suggested a national government of the three parties, to be led by Nnamdi Azikiwe as the Prime Minister. Awolowo never suggested a coalition government between the NCNC and AG to the exclusion of the NPC. After the NCNC had agreed to form a coalition government with the NPC to the exclusion of the AG, the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, actually invited Obafemi Awolowo to join the national government he intended to form. However, Awolowo declined to join Balewa's government claiming that he could not serve in a government led by a feudalist. Thus, Balewa became Prime Minister while Azikiwe became President of the Senate and Awolowo was leader of opposition in the Federal Parliament. When the British Colonial Governor General, Sir James Robertson departed in November 1960, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was appointed Governor General on November 16, 1960,  by the Queen of England on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Nigeria, Balewa. The vacant position of the President of the Senate was filled by Dr Nwafor Orizu.

The main reason why Azikiwe and his NCNC went into a coalition government with the NPC was the belief that since the Northerners were educationally backward in comparison with Easterners, ceding the post of Prime Minister to Abubakar was of no consequence because easterners would dominate the civil service and government in general. That the NCNC achieved its aim of going into coalition government with the NPC was confirmed by Chinua Achebe in his swansong, "There Was a Country, p. 66," where he stated that 'Igbo led the country in virtually every sector - politics, education, commerce and the arts.'  One of the weapons of mass deception in Nigeria from independence to date is the belief that an appointee to an office is there to serve his/her tribe instead of the entire nation. Although the reality before Nigerians is that an official does not even serve his village not to talk of his entire tribe but serves himself and his immediate family. Fast forward, in 1962, the NPC/NCNC controlled federal government declared a six-month emergency in the Western Region which the Governor General, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe signed into law which tactically overthrew the Action Group controlled government of the region. At the same time, the leader of the AG, Obafemi Awolowo was jailed on trump-up charges of treasonable felony. The NCNC which used to be strong in the West had calculated coldly that with decimated AG and its leader in prison, the then Western region was going to fall into its lap. Samuel Ladoke Akintola outfoxed both Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara in the 1964 December federal election and the rest is history about how President Azikiwe left Nigeria on medical vacation abroad in 1965 and how the acting President, Nwafor Orizu, refused to accept Zana Bukar Dipcharima as a replacement for the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, presumed dead in the Military putsch of January 15, 1966, and thereby facilitated the handing over of power to Major General Aguyi Ironsi who executed the NCNC idea of unitary form of government in Nigeria instead of federal one.

With regards to protesters against Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Nigeria in 2020, one has to recall that the #ENDSARS Movement demanded five things from the Federal Government. In response to their major demand, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on Sunday, October 11, 2020, announced the immediate disbandment of SARS across the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Despite the disbandment, anti-SARS protesters, on Monday, 12 October 2020, stormed Lekki Toll Gate section of the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, to resume demonstrations leading to several hours of gridlock that caused commuters and motorists on their way to work to standstill. The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. B. Sanwo-Olu went to Lekki Toll Gate on October 12, 2020 to address the protesters and promised them that Government would compensate victims of SARS killings in the State. On the same day, President Buhari addressed the nation and stated partly thus, "The disbanding of SARS is only the first step in our commitment to extensive Police reforms in order to ensure that the primary duty of the police and other law enforcement agencies remains the protection of lives and livelihood of our people. We will also ensure that all those responsible for misconduct or wrongful acts are brought to Justice."  The following day, 13 October 2020, the IGP ordered all defunct SARS' personnel to report at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, for debriefing. That same day, the presidential panel on the reform of SARS formally accepted the five-point demand of the #ENDSARS protesters. On October 15, 2020, the National Economic Council (NEC) directed the immediate establishment of State-based Judicial Panels of Inquiry across the country to receive and investigate complaints of Police brutality or related extra-judicial killings. 

That was the first time a Nigerian government ever listened to protesting citizens and responding positively to their demands. Yet the protests  continued and developed into riots on 20 October 2020. 30 BRT buses for mass transit in Lagos were burnt; FRSC office and Vehicle Inspection Unit Office were touched; Television Continental linked to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Nation Newspaper were touched; and Oba of Lagos Palace was raided, looted and vandalised. IPOB's broadcast of that time actually advocated for strategic destruction of public utilities in Lagos, for attack on the palace of Oba of Lagos as well as properties belonging to Bola Ahmed Tinubu which had nothing to do with SARS' actions.

Those are facts not fiction.

S. Kadiri

[cornelius...@gmail.com]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

Of course, the philosopher in you knows the difference between an allegation and an assertion.  

The sceptic questions the assertion that Jesus defied -  not deified, but defied the laws of nature when - as is alleged , “Jesus walked on water” about which alleged super-natural event Leonard Cohen the poet opined, “And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water”. Of course only the sophist would want to argue with the latter. 

As a neutral observer, going through the whole article, my impression was that as the seasoned scholar and commentator that he is, Oyeniyi Bukola Adeyemi was ( as to be expected) being cautious, in the earlier part of his submission, careful enough not to overstate his case or to make any contentious claims that could not be substantiated. 

In his introductory paragraph he sets out the parameters and inevitably as a Nigerian you probably belong to one or more of the categories, influenced by the various factors that he outlines: “cognitive dissonance, self-motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, identity, and group affiliation, among others…socialization, convoluted social norms, fear, uncertainty, and social pressure…historical revisionism, propaganda, deliberate forgetting, selective remembering, ethnonationalism, and more.”

So in your view - as a historian, maybe even as a first person witness, miscreant or participant in the Lagos uprising or better still as Adepoju the omniscient what could be your beef with “No amount of reality denial can erase the fact that Nnamdi Kanu allegedly orchestrated the burning of Lagos, the killing of security operatives, and more during the ENDSARS protests" ???????

It reminds me of the opening of Buber’s The way of man according to the teachings of Hasidism in which the chief of the gendarmes asks the pious rabbi ,” How are we to understand that God, the all-knowing, said to Adam, “Where art thou?” 

( That was also a flaw in Yusuf Islam’s (Cat Stevens ) assertion -in one of his lectures, that the Torah was flawed ( “had been tampered with”) because, how could the Omniscient Almighty ask that kind of question, that only someone like Cornelius Ignoramus could ask? ) 

 “Despite the fact that evidence of all these actions is publicly available”   -according to Professor Adeyemi  what seems to be so startling to you is that he did what he is logically and evidentially entitled to do, that is, he moved  from allegation to confident assertion : “Today, October 20, 2023, marks the three-year anniversary of Nnamdi Kanu's hijacking of ENDSARS and the orchestration of the burning of Lagos.”

In context, I see no inherent contradiction between the allegation and the assertion. Do you? Where?

As to the rest of the subject matter covered, of relevance, from Chapter 17 Independence Achieved pages 237 - 258 of Michael Crowder’s The Story of Nigeria .

 from page 245 

“The federal elections, as the table below shows, returned no party with a large enough majority to form a government, by itself.  After a week of strenuous negotiations the N.P.C. and the N.C.N.C agreed to form a coalition government, leaving the Action Group in opposition. During that week there had even been talk of an Action Group - N.C.N.C. alliance, which would have led to the unhappy situation of confronting South and North as Government and Opposition  

Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa , who was knighted in the new Years Honours ,became Prime Minister and Dr Azikiwe, leader of the N.C.N.C., to the surprise of many, opted for the dignified but in itself politically uninfluential post of President of the newly formed Senate, which had an equal number of Senators nominated by each regional government. There was considerable speculation as to whether Dr Azikiwe would become Nigeria’s first African Governor-General, or whether he was waiting for the post of Foreign Minister when Nigeria, on Independence, took over control of external affairs.  As it turned out there were no major changes in the government on Independence and Dr Azikiwe, on the 16th November 1960, became Governor-General of the independent federation.” 

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Adegbalola : The Griot 

HISTORY LESSON: "Nothing's Changed" is so political