Nigeria: Does ‘common man’ play tribal politics?

Tribal politics is a popular parlance describing a situation whereby people vote, prefer, or identify with a candidate or political party because they belong to a specific tribe. It’s been used for long, but notable Nigerians mention it regularly of late. It’s against the backdrop of the outcome of the 2023 general election and the accusations being traded online between Ndigbo and the Yoruba. But, does the ‘common man’, the average Nigerian, really play tribal politics? Is this how they have always known politics from the first election in 1951 that ushered educated elites into political offices?

These questions interest me as a journalist with a political science background. It does, because I think “tribal politics” is being used to describe many manifestations that have nothing to do with playing it. In the social sciences students are trained to see it when a concept is generalised, linked to everything and anything to be meaningful. Actually, one sure way for a candidate to fail a thesis defence in the social sciences is to use a concept or a word too loosely. If your concepts aren’t precisely defined in the context of the research in question, you have no researchable topic let alone a thesis that can fly.

Over the years, when it comes to politics, some words are used loosely and this is common among people with academic backgrounds other than the social sciences. This is understandable. And it’s for this reason I address what I consider the loose use of “tribal politics” so that we are not mistaken regarding some matters. Do Nigerians play tribal politics? If they do, which segment of the politically conscious population specifically?  I shall dissect the phenomenon using practical occurrences in our nation’s politics. I use my observations of our political scene as well as secondary data. Rather than pass judgment, I use materials from recorded history much of which are in the form of school textbooks that I was exposed to as a student of Government at ‘O’ Level, ‘A’ Level, and as a political science student. I’ll be a little detailed so I shall have to pause this week and continue next Friday.

I shall trace our political journey to the current political dispensation, while I start from the 1940s. By early 1940s Herbert Macaulay, a foremost nationalist based in Lagos, was already an established politician. His party was contesting election in Lagos as far back as 1922. Nnamdi Azikiwe (popularly called Zik) joined him and took over the leadership when Macaulay died. Macaulay’s party was the best known political party in the west by the 1940s.  Even after Zik took over, the NCNC remained popular among westerners. One reason was that they had popular indigenes in most Yoruba towns as members. In Ibadan, there was a certain Adegoke Adelabu that Ibadan people followed.

In a speech that Chief Bola Ige, former governor of Oyo State, delivered at the University of Ibadan sometime between 1998 and 2001 (I was present in the auditorium), he described Adelabu as a “wiry individual” with an oratory power that made Adelabu a thorn in the flesh of his party, the Action Group. Adelabu held sway in Ibadan politics at the time. And so strong did   Zik’s party remain until Adelabu died in an accident in the late 1950s.  They were popular too across many Yoruba towns. Back to 1951, to the election that first ushered educated elites into high political offices in the western, northern, and eastern regions of Nigeria. Zik’s party came into that election as the oldest and the more popular political party in the west, thanks to local politicians such as Adelabu.

Chief Awolowo’s group Egbe Omo Oodua, a socio-cultural group established in the late 1940s, had by then transformed into a political party. Election happened into the parliament, and after it Awolowo got winners from other smaller political parties representing some big towns to form government led by the Action Group. Details of how this happened are in the records, with allegations of cross-carpeting made. This was how the Action Group had a majority to form the cabinet in the West with Awolowo leading it. On the ground though AG still had to fight to win the heart of the common man across Yoruba towns.  I don’t need to go into details of the Yoruba civil war of the 19th century to explain how Awolowo being from the Ogun area constituted reasons some in Ibadan were pro-Zik/Adelabu’s party. Ibadan fought countless wars with people from Ogun axis. In the 1950s, the common man in Ibadan and across the west wasn’t playing tribal politics by standing against one of their tribe members, Awolowo,  to support a party headed by Zik, an Igbo man.

Even Awolowo was so impressed by this disposition of the common man in the west that he wrote about it in one of his books. He describes the Yoruba as an intelligent people who make political choices based on what is in their best interest and based on issues. Really, Macaulay-Zik-Adelabu’s party had come a long way; they were part of many struggles and strike actions undertaken against the colonial government in past years, of which workers’ leaders in many Yoruba towns were a part. The AG gained supporters going forward but Awolowo had to record  impressive “First in Africa” feats before westerners followed him. Did this remove the influence of Zik’s party from the West? No. From the time Awolowo became Leader of the Opposition in the House of Reps to the end of the First Republic in 1966, his party had Zik’s party to contend with in strongholds such as Ibadan.

Even at the time it was said that the common man was victimised by the government in power for belonging to the opposition, the Yoruba popularised the song: “Bi o r’oju mi o r’inu mi, Demo n mo wa.” That is, “if you see my face you don’t see my thoughts, I belong to the opposition party.” That was the story of the First Republic in the west. In the north, the party led by Sir Ahmadu Bello was in control. There were many political parties bearing the name of their tribes. But did they always have the support of every tribesman? No. Opposition was strong in Kano and in parts of the Middle Belt. Aminu Kano was popular in other parts of the north not just in Kano.  But was the opposition in Kano strong because of tribal politics? There were more  local undercurrents than that.

Was the party led by Joseph Tarka strong in parts of Middle Belt because the common man was playing tribal politics? My view was that Tarka wasn’t accepted just because he was from the Middle Belt, but also because of what he symbolised as opposition to the Fulani political establishment, that Bello’s party represented, and which establishment minority tribes had unforgettable brushes back in the 19th century. In fact, at the time elections began in the early 1950s some of these minority tribes had yet to be fully persuaded to come down from mountains where they had lived for decades for fear of the jihadists.   This still didn’t mean some minority tribes in the Middle Belt didn’t support Bello and his  party. A few years ago, I sat with an elder in a remote part of Benue State who had lived through the First Republic politics for an interview. He said his tribe, Idoma, was pro-Bello. They voted Bello. Why? Bello and his government did well for them.

Meanwhile, in the north, Awo and Zik’s parties had considerable following across tribes, even among the Fulani. Awo flew in helicopters across mountains to remote areas. In the Adamawa area, for instance, Bello had to campaign hard among the Fulani. As some knowledgeable people in the north told me, Bello was quoted as campaigning that if the people who were already Muslims voted for Awo’s party they would be forced to urinate standing up.  Zik returned to the east after he lost the west’s premiership after the 1951 election. He took over the seat from a certain premier from the Rivers area. Like in the west, this led to grumbling of “tribal politics” which the voting pattern of the common man didn’t primarily instigate.