By Samuel Eke Petu
Nigeria’s democracy often resembles a theatre of the surreal, where the unimaginable becomes reality. This arena, teeming with both the extraordinary and the ludicrous, is a quagmire navigable only by those adept at the art of political mudslinging and survival.
I wish to address one such absurdity using the ‘tyranny of the majority’ as a backdrop. Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian, is credited with the coinage in his work Democracy in America, published in 1930. His opinion was that there existed the potential for the majority to oppress minority groups, even in a democratic system.
A classic illustration of this struggle for power and dominance by a dominant ethnic group struck me from reading a recent Leadership Newspaper story headlined ‘Bill To Create Okura State Out Of Kogi Passes Second Reading’, dated July 19th, 2024. I reproduce here a portion of the story:
“The House of Representatives has passed for the second reading, a bill seeking for the creation of Okura State with Egume as the capital out of the present Kogi State.
The proposed legislation titled; “Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Provide for Creation of Okura State with Egume as the Proposed State Capital and for Related Matters (HB.1568) is sponsored by the Deputy House Leader, Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims and eight others.
Leading debate on the general principles of the bill, Halims said the creation of the state will ensure lasting peace create a sense of belonging and bring government closer to the people.
He also said the creation of Okura State will engender “balance, more representation, and equitable distribution of the nation’s resources, more development and wellbeing of the people of Igala.” (Underlined for emphasis).
The sponsor, Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims said in the same news story that the proposed “state will be inhabited by the Igala people who are the ninth largest ethnic group in Nigeria with a population of 1.48 million people according to the National Population Census.” The paper also reported that a member of the House, representing Ajaokuta Federal Constituency in Kogi State, Hon. Sanni Egidi Abdulraheem, asked that his constituency, Ajaokuta, be struck out of the bill because neither Kogi Central Senatorial District nor his constituency were consulted before the bill was put together.
Another poignant opposition that rose from the same bill, from the report, was from the Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, who “faulted the lawmakers and others bringing bills for state creation, saying that should have come in form of a request as provided for in Section 8 the Constitution.
“He said Section 8 (1) provides that; an Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new State shall only be passed if “(a) a request, supported by at least two-thirds majority of members (representing the area demanding the creation of the new State) in each of the following, namely –(i) the Senate and the House of Representatives, (ii) the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and (iii) the local government councils in respect of the area, is received by the National Assembly.
Chinda said such must satisfy the provision saying, “a proposal for the creation of the State is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least two-thirds majority of the people of the area where the demand for creation of the State originated. (Underlined for emphasis).
“(c) the result of the referendum is then approved by a simple majority of all the States of the Federation supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly; and
“(d) the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of members of each House of the National Assembly.”
In essence, the Minority Leader was saying politely to his colleagues that the bill was not properly conceived and did NOT follow the CONSTITUTION, the proper way. Yet these salient facts and objections were ignored, and the bill passed a second reading.
What does the Igala want? I will answer this question shortly. It is clear that the Igala, who, according to Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims, are “the ninth largest ethnic group in Nigeria with a population of 1.48 million,” are not comfortable with their majority status in Kogi State, where they are at present. And this is not their first time sponsoring a bill to seek another state, Okura State.
In 2009, a similar bill was submitted before the National Assembly and the Kogi State House of Assembly. The bill sought to create Okura State out of the present Kogi State, and it was to cover nine local governments in the East Senatorial District of Kogi State, namely Ankpa, Bassa, Dekina, Ibaji, Idah, Igalamela-Odolu, Ofu, Olamaboro, and Omala.
Since Kogi State was created in 1991 and whenever the Igala made the demand for Okura State, they never fail to mention Bassa, a non-Igala-speaking local government. As if repeating falsity ever makes it a truth. The Bassa Nge under the Bassa Nge Development Union (BNDU) countered this move with a petition supported with irrefutable facts, dated December 16th, 2009, and titled Agitation for Creation of Okura State: The Stand of the Bassa Nge People. This was addressed to the leadership of the National Assembly (the Senate and House of Representatives). The Bassa Nge position then was (and remains) that the Igala should count us out of Okura State.
What does the Igala want? Do you shave a man’s head when he is not around or has not given you his consent? I come from the Bassa Nge ethnic group, Nupe by origin, and we are found in Lokoja and Bassa Local Government Area along with the Bassa Kwomu, Ebirra Mozum, and other ethnic groups that have no cultural affinity with the Igala. I know my people, from time immemorial, have always wanted Kogi State. They DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO OKURA STATE. The present attempt at including them by sleuth of hand has been a bone of contention with the Igala since they started the Okura Movement.
As far back as 1967, when states were first created, the Bassa Nge always wanted to be in their present political configuration. When states were created, they longed to have the former Kabba province created as a state, but they were, along with the Igala, placed in Kwara State. And when another opportunity came in 1976, despite their robust defence before the Justice Ayo Irikefe Panel on State Creation, which sat in Ilorin and Lokoja, the Bassa Nge were placed in Benue State.
Reluctantly, they went to Benue State, and at the ripe time, along with other likeminded minds (from the old Kabba Province), they began the Movement for the Creation of Kogi State, which the Igala were, at first, part of until that day when Lokoja was picked over Idah (the recent bill shows the capital of the proposed Okura has now moved to Egume) at a meeting hosted in Dekina by the Dekina Local Government Chapter of the Kogi State Movement. This was so even after the meeting democratically settled for Lokoja.
What does the Igala want? The Bassa Nge have had to endure the yoke of the tyranny of the majority for a long time now. In Kwara State and Benue State, they were in the minority. In Kogi State, they remain in the minority, fed with crumbs. The Igala, on the other hand, ascended the lofty throne of dominance, the numero uno in Kogi State.
Since the state’s establishment in 1991 to date, the state has had twelve governors. Out of the total twelve governors, including the incumbent, that have governed the state, four have been Igala, with Prince Abubakar Audu getting the opportunity twice, making the tally of Igala governing the state five. He would have obtained his third shot at the Government House and sixth turn for the Igala, but the cold hands of death curtailed it. It was this deus ex machina, an unexpected occurrence, that saw the dominant ethnic group (Igala) lose the coveted Lugard Government House in Lokoja to the Ebirra, Yahaya Bello, in the elections of 2015. Therefore, approximately 62.5% of the democratically elected governors of Kogi State have been from the Igala ethnic group.
In the winner-take-all election process, the Igala had always dominated the other ethnic groups: Ebirra, Okun, Ebirra Koto, Bassa Nge, Bassa Kwomu, Oworo, Kakanda, etc. In an article titled Political Elites and Conflicts in Kogi State: Implications for the Management of the Economy of the State, Mbumege Ayo, Ph.D., wrote that “Kogi State remains essentially a state of sectional interest rather than a representative of collective interests of the people; there is minimal sense of cohesion and unity”. And so, as it was during the government of the Igala candidates when the Lugard Government House became like a typical local government of the Igala, the immediate past and current governors have made the Lugard Government House an Ebirra enclave. This is mirrored across the length and breadth of the government structure and in the way state resources are allocated for development.
This has made the democratisation of the Kogi State mission impossible to date. According to Omotola, J. Shola, 2008, “The democratization in Kogi State has often limited social justice, fairness, and equity, leading to the transformation of ethnic identities. Ethnic identity becomes a major factor in the allocation of resources and political power, resulting in increased ethnic tensions,” he wrote in an article titled Democratization, Identity Transformation, and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria. Omotola further wrote that the conflict dynamics ”of the state shows that the struggle for power among ethnic groups often leads to both inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic conflicts. The power shift campaigns and the resultant mistrust among ethnic groups exacerbate these conflicts”. It is not a surprise that the state has gained notoriety as a political hotbed where political brigandage and thuggery are the order of the day, especially during election season.
What does the Igala want? In their latest desire to have a state of their own, not minding adding communities that were never consulted, we are being made to watch a drama of a banquet where the largest family always serves itself first, taking the best portions and leaving scraps for the other families. Not content with this, they now seek to create a new banquet hall exclusively for themselves, falsely claiming the support of other families to justify their actions. This is not only fraudulent; it is immoral. The National Assembly should resist this bill and take the necessary steps to protect minority groups in the country from the ‘tyranny of the majority’. After all, the sponsor of the bill did say about the proposed state and I quote “the state will be inhabited by the Igala people who are the ninth largest ethnic group in Nigeria”. It is to be a state for the Igala!
What does the Igala want? You had the biggest serving on the banquet table for most of the time, and because you have lost the position and are at the receiving end of the tyranny of an ethnic group less in number than you, you feel the best way to react is to walk out of the banquet? What made the Igala lose the last election held in 2023 that brought in Alhaji Usman Ododo? Was it the power of incumbency of the past governor who paved the way for his kinsman? Or was it disunity, greed, and unbridled jostling for power among the Igala that ensured there was no common front to defeat Usman Ododo, an Ebirra, at the polls? We will leave that to history to unravel.
Political theorist John Stuart Mill warned against such scenarios in his work on representative government, emphasising the dangers of majority rule without safeguards for minority rights (Mill, 1861, Considerations on Representative Government). Similarly, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spoke of the “will to power,” where groups or individuals continuously seek to expand their influence and control (Nietzsche, 1883, Thus Spoke Zarathustra). The last probably explains the present adventure of the Igala to advocate for Okura State, seeking to expand their influence and control at the expense of others.
But unfortunately, can what is presumed unachievable in Kogi State with four Igala governors be achieved in Okura State? The sponsor of the bill said it will promote “balance, more representation, and equitable distribution of the nation’s resources, more development and wellbeing of the people of Igala.” Nothing can be more laughable! Were the Igala cheated in resource allocation in Kogi State even when they are in the majority and have governed the state the most? It is preposterous!
The Igala enterprise highlights the need for a political system that ensures equitable representation and protection for all ethnic groups, preventing any single group from monopolising power and resources. Only then will the minority groups have a sense of belonging, have their interests catered for, and heave a sigh from the ‘tyranny of the majority’.
The Bassa Nge will have nothing to do with Okura State, and this is the end of the discussion. We hope the National Assembly will protect the rights of the minority, and when the final gavel drops, the proposed fraud will be nullified.
