US embassy cable - 92KADUNA1485

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KADUNA 01485 
 
 
E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR 
TAGS: PGOV, NI 
SUBJECT: "THE NATIONAL QUESTION": CAN NIGERIANS LIVE 
TOGETHER? 
 
1.  CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. 
 
2.  SUMMARY: ON AUGUST 20 THE CITIZEN WEEKLY MAGAZINE HELD 
AN "ANNUAL DIALOGUE" CENTERED ON THE SUBJECT: "THE 
NATIONAL QUESTION: WHAT IS THE ANSWER?"  CONSUL GENERAL 
ATTENDED THE SESSION, WHICH INCLUDED SPEAKERS KEN 
SARO-WIWA (ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN WRITERS); COL. (RTD) 
YOHANNA MADAKI; FELIX ADENAIKE (FORMER MD OF THE TRIBUNE 
NEWSPAPERS); DR. YUSUF BALA USMAN (ABU); SAM IKOKU, 
VETERAN POLITICIAN; AND ALHAJI USMAN ABUBAKAR (FORMER 
STATE COMMISSIONER AND BUSINESSMAN).  THE "NATIONAL 
QUESTION," BALDLY PUT, ASKS WHETHER NIGERIANS ARE ABLE TO 
LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE COUNTRY.  IN VARIOUS WAYS, THE 
SPEAKERS OFFERED INSIGHTS INTO THE INTERWOVEN PROBLEMS OF 
ETHNICITY, RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES AND CONSTANTLY CHANGING 
POLITICAL ARRANGEMENTS.  PREDICTABLY, NO ONE HAD AN 
ANSWER.  END SUMMARY. 
 
3.  IN THE VARIOUS PRESENTATIONS, A RECURRING THEME THE 
PARTICIPANTS CHEWED OVER WAS THE MULTIPLICITY OF ETHNIC 
GROUPS IN NIGERIA AND THE VARIOUS WAYS, SINCE COLONIAL 
TIMES, THE ISSUE HAS BEEN DEALT WITH.  WHILE SARO-WIWA, 
HIMSELF AN IJAW FROM RIVERS STATE, SUPPORTED THE IDEA OF 
AUTONOMY FOR EACH GROUP, FEW OTHERS SAW ANY POSITIVE GAIN 
FROM FURTHER DIVISION ALONG ETHNIC LINES.  IN FACT, 
SEVERAL SPEAKERS STATED EMPHATICALLY THAT THE CONTINUED 
CREATION OF NEW STATES HAD ENTRENCHED ETHNIC POLITICS IN 
NIGERIA AND INCREASED THE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AMONG THOSE 
MINORITIES WHICH DID NOT YET HAVE A STATE "OF THEIR OWN." 
 
4.  THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND THE 
IDENTIFICATION OF RELIGION WITH ETHNICITY ALSO CAME UP 
THROUGHOUT THE DAY.  ADENAIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, URGED 
NIGERIANS NOT TO SHY AWAY FROM DISCUSSING ETHNIC 
DIFFERENCES AS IF THEY DID NOT EXIST.  HE STATED FURTHER 
HIS CONVICTION THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO FACILITATE THE 
PRACTICE OF ONE'S RELIGION WITHOUT THRUSTING THE ISSUE 
INTO THE CENTER OF POLITICAL DISCUSSION.  IN SAYING THIS, 
HE CAME AS CLOSE TO A DEFINITION OF SECULARISM AS WE HAVE 
HEARD IN NIGERIA. 
 
5.  DR. BALA USMAN CONCENTRATED HIS LEGENDARY FIRE ON 
EXPLODING SEVERAL MYTHS OR "FAIRY TALES" WHICH HE SAID 
INFORMED MOST DISCUSSIONS OF THIS KIND, INCLUDING THE 
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THREE SPEAKERS WHO HAD PRECEDED HIM. 
HE STATED IT WAS SILLY TO THINK OF ETHNIC GROUPS PRIOR TO 
BRITISH CONQUEST OF HAVING EXISTED WITHIN CLEARLY DRAWN 
POLITICAL BOUNDARIES, ONE TO EACH GROUP.  FURTHER HE 
POINTED OUT THAT THE BRITISH TAKEOVER OF WHAT IS NOW 
NIGERIA HAD BEEN GREATLY FACILITATED BY THE DIVISIONS AND 
ANIMOSITIES AMONG THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND DID NOT 
OCCUR SIMPLY THROUGH FORCE MAJEURE.  FINALLY, SAID BALA 
USMAN, THE SIMPLISTIC DISCUSSION OF POLITICS UNDER THE 
FIRST REPUBLIC IN WHICH EACH OF THE THREE REGIONS HAD HAD 
ITS OWN PARTY BASED ON ITS ETHNIC GROUP WAS ALSO ABSURD. 
ETHNIC SOLIDARITY HAS NEVER EXISTED IN NIGERIA, MAINTAINED 
BALA USMAN, BEFORE, DURING OR AFTER THE BRITISH, NOR HAVE 
POLITICAL BOUNDARIES EVER COINCIDED WITH ETHNIC BOUNDARIES 
THERE IS ALSO NO SUCH THING, HE SAID, AS "RELIGIOUS 
POLITICS," MAINTAINING THAT THERE ARE AT LEAST 12 
MUSLIM POLITIES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA AND NO SUCH THING AS 
"THE HAUSA-FULANI."  BALA USMAN'S CONCLUSION WAS THAT, 
SINCE ALL THESE INTERPRETATIONS OF ETHNICITY ARE "FAIRY 
TALES," THE ONLY ANSWER TO THE NATIONAL QUESTION IS FOR 
NIGERIANS TO LIVE WITHIN ONE POLITICAL ENTITY AND WORK 
OUT A WAY TO DO THIS PEACEFULLY. 
 
6.  SAM IKOKU APPEARED TO AGREE WITH BALA USMAN ON 
ESSENTIALS, STATING THAT THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION IS "HOW DO 
WE LIVE TOGETHER HAPPILY?"  HE STATED THAT THE SOLUTION 
CANNOT BE FOUND IN THE AMERICAN EXAMPLE (KILLING OFF THE 
INDIGENOUS POPULATION) OR IN THE EUROPEAN EXAMPLE 
(KILLING OFF EACH OTHER).  NEVERTHELESS, HE URGED NIGERIAN 
NOT TO LOOK AT TODAY'S SITUATION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 
AND THE FORMER USSR, BUT RATHER IN AMERICA WHERE THE 
CURRENT RESIDENTS DO LIVE TOGETHER IN HARMONY.  FOR IKOKU, 
THE NIGERIAN STATE MUST ASSERT ITSELF TO GUARANTEE THE 
ESSENTIAL RIGHTS OF PEOPLE OVER ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS 
DIVISIONS, AND IN PARTICULAR THE RIGHT OF PEOPLE TO LIVE 
AND WORK WHERE THEY ARE. 
 
7.  COMMENT: TO AN AMERICAN LISTENER, THE DISCUSSION WAS 
INTERESTING IN HIGHLIGHTING TWO AREAS IN WHICH NIGERIA 
DIVERGES MOST SHARPLY FROM AMERICAN PRACTICE.  ONE IS WHAT 
APPEARS TO US IN THE NORTHERN HEARTLAND AS A COMPLETE 
INCOMPREHENSION ABOUT WHAT A SECULAR SOCIETY INVOLVES AND, 
OFTEN, WHY IT MIGHT BE DESIRABLE.  THE SECOND IS WHAT 
IKOKU REFERRED TO, NAMELY, AN UNDERSTANDING THAT A CITIZEN 
CAN PRACTICE HIS CIVIC RIGHTS AND DUTIES WHEREVER HE 
FINDS HIMSELF.  IN NORTHERN NIGERIA, AT LEAST, THE MOSLEM 
HAUSA ELITE EITHER CANNOT OR WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT 
SECULARISM INVOLVES; IN FACT, MOST OF THEM WOULD REJECT 
IT OUT OF HAND.  IN A CONVERSATION WITH THE CONSUL GENERAL 
RECENTLY, ALHAJI ISA KAITA REPORTED THAT THE GOVERNOR OF 
KANO HAD CONTRIBUTED TO A FUND TO REBUILD THE JNI CENTER 
BURNED DOWN IN THE KADUNA MAY RIOTS.  HE WAS BLANKLY 
UNCOMPREHENDING WHEN THE CG ASKED IF A LIKE AMOUNT WAS TO 
BE CONTRIBUTED TO THE CHURCHES DESTROYED AT THE SAME TIME. 
"OH, NO," REPLIED THE VENERABLE ELDER, "ONLY THE MOSLEM 
GOVERNORS ATTENDED THE MEETING." 
 
8.  COMMENT (CONT):  HAD WE PRESSED THE POINT TO ISA KAITA 
AND POINTED OUT THAT MANY CHRISTIANS LIVE IN KANO STATE 
AS WELL AS THROUGHOUT THE NORTH, WE SUSPECT HE WOULD FALL 
BACK ON THE POSITION MANY EXPRESSED IN THE AFTERMATH OF 
THE KANO RIOTS LAST OCTOBER AND THE KADUNA TROUBLES IN 
MAY:  THEY ARE "STRANGERS" WHO MAY LIVE HERE IN PEACE BUT 
SHOULD NOT OVERSTEP THE "BOUNDS OF HOSPITALITY."  IN THE 
ZANGON-KATAF EXAMPLE, OF COURSE, THE ARGUMENT WAS TURNED 
AGAINST THE HAUSAS WHO WERE CALLED STRANGERS BY THE 
KATAF.  IN NIGERIA, IT SEEMS, YOU HAVE FULL CIVIL AND 
POLITICAL RIGHTS ONLY IN THAT PLACE WHERE YOU "COME FROM," 
WHICH, TRANSLATED, MEANS YOUR ETHNIC GROUP OR SUB-GROUP. 
IT FOLLOWS, THEN, THAT YOU MUST HAVE YOUR OWN PLACE AND, 
IN MODERN PARLANCE, YOUR "OWN" STATE.  IT HAS ONLY 
RECENTLY BECOME APPARENT TO THE CG THAT NIGERIANS BELIEVE 
THIS PRINCIPLE UNDERLINES THE EXISTENCE OF 50 STATES IN 
THE U.S. AND, THEREFORE, EXPLAINS WHY SO MANY NIGERIANS 
STATE THAT SINCE THEIR SYSTEM IS  MODELED ON THE U.S., 
THEY NEED TO HAVE 50 STATES AS WELL. 
 
9.  COMMENT (CONT):  WHAT WAS REFRESHING AT THIS 
CONFERENCE WAS THE DISCUSSION OF THESE ISSUES WHICH ARE 
SO OFTEN SWEPT UNDER THE CARET IN NIGERIA.  THE AUDIENCE 
HAD A FAIR NUMBER OF BUSINESS, ACADEMIC AND MEDIA LEADERS, 
AND THE CITIZEN WILL SURELY CARRY MANY OF THE PAPERS IN 
WHOLE OR PART.  SINCE MOST SPEAKERS DISAGREED WITH EACH 
OTHER EVEN ON WHAT THE "NATIONAL QUESTION" IS, HOWEVER, 
IT WAS NO SURPRISE THAT THEY COULD NOT COME UP WITH AN 
ANSWER IN THE TIME ALLOTED.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
WEINLAND