By Kayode Komolafe
While Nigeria marked the 57th Anniversary
of her independence on Sunday one streak of the national mood was not explicit
in the messages sent on the occasion. Here is the point: it is hardly
fashionable anymore to wave the flag of Nigerian nationalism or defend the
unity of the country as a matter of historical responsibility. The latest fad
is that of championing ethnic, regional or religious interests at the huge
expense of national integration and cohesion.
 |
| *President Buhari |
The tragedy of the moment is simply that it used not be like this; a generation
of Nigerian youths once made Nigerian nationalism their career. For example,
the young men in the Zikist Movement proudly and selflessly fought in the
spirit of Nigerian nationalism; they did not champion northern or southern
interests. No, a century of British colonialism did not come an end on October
1, 1960 without a fight.
To be
sure, there were no guerrilla fighters who went to the bush; but there were
radical youths agitating in the cities. As the late Marxist historian, Bala
Usman, used to put in his inimitable polemical fashion, the struggle for
independence was for the nationhood of Nigeria and not for ethnic or
regional divisions. In fact, 70 years ago, some of the young men were so
immersed in the liberation of Africa such that
Nigerian independence was expected to be the launching pad for the total
liberation of the black people. It was not for nothing that the appellation of
the chief inspirer of the young nationalists, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was not “Zik
of Onitsha” or even “Zik of Nigeria.”
