After days of violence and uncertainty, the president of the senate invited the head of the
army, Maj. Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to resume power as head of the government. Many
northerners feared that Aguiyi-Ironsi, an easterner was simply trying to shift the regional
power balance previously in favour of the North. Northern Nigeria erupted in deadly riots,
with widespread attacks on Southerners, particularly, easterners (Ibos) living in the northern
region. . .
16
Consequently, in July, northern soldiers murdered Aguiyi Ironsi and enthroned a
young northerner, Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon. The attacks in the north continued, and
as many as 100,000 eastern Ibos were killed, about 500,000 displaced in a matter of
few months.
17 Therefore, the eastern regional government declared the situation
untenable and seceded from Nigeria in May 1967, renaming itself the Republic of
Biafra. Invariably, a civil war broke out and as many as three million easterners were
reportedly killed.
On July 30, 1975, a group of Hausa Fulani junior northern army officers seized
power in a peaceful coup d’état while Gowon was out of the country. The coup
leaders installed their fellow Hausa-Fulani northern officer, Gen. Murtala
Muhammed who continued the Hausa-Fulani northern agenda and moved the
political capital of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja in Northern Nigeria. Following
Gowon’s example, he split the country’s twelve states to nineteen, ostensibly to
strengthen the northern Hausa-Fulani power base in the Nigerian Federation. Six
months after taking office, General Muhammed was assassinated in a coup attempt.
Lt. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a western war hero, took over as the Head of the
Supreme Military Council and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He
continued with Muhammed’s agenda, and empaneled selected Nigerians to draft a
constitution after which he supplanted the Land Use Decree of 1978 which was not
in the agenda of the Constituent Assembly, but was surreptitiously added to the
constitution of Nigeria in 1979 without due process. As will be demonstrated
subsequently in this chapter, the above geopolitical and historical perspective of
Nigeria has impacted exceedingly on the soil governance system, which is in effect
the bane of major inter-ethnic conflicts in the country.
3.2 Ethnic and Economic Dimensions to Soil Governance
Conflict
Nigeria like most African countries is facing the problem of food security, degradation of land, desertification, pollution, and creation of wasteland. In practical terms,
these problems have led to mass migration of the Fulani herders, who are Muslims,
down to the southern part of the country due to insufficiency of grass in their home
land to sustain their livestock. In the cause of their movement, their cattle often
16 Duggan (2009).
17 Osaghae (1998).
162
B. B. Orubebe
army, Maj. Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to resume power as head of the government. Many
northerners feared that Aguiyi-Ironsi, an easterner was simply trying to shift the regional
power balance previously in favour of the North. Northern Nigeria erupted in deadly riots,
with widespread attacks on Southerners, particularly, easterners (Ibos) living in the northern
region. . .
16
Consequently, in July, northern soldiers murdered Aguiyi Ironsi and enthroned a
young northerner, Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon. The attacks in the north continued, and
as many as 100,000 eastern Ibos were killed, about 500,000 displaced in a matter of
few months.
17 Therefore, the eastern regional government declared the situation
untenable and seceded from Nigeria in May 1967, renaming itself the Republic of
Biafra. Invariably, a civil war broke out and as many as three million easterners were
reportedly killed.
On July 30, 1975, a group of Hausa Fulani junior northern army officers seized
power in a peaceful coup d’état while Gowon was out of the country. The coup
leaders installed their fellow Hausa-Fulani northern officer, Gen. Murtala
Muhammed who continued the Hausa-Fulani northern agenda and moved the
political capital of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja in Northern Nigeria. Following
Gowon’s example, he split the country’s twelve states to nineteen, ostensibly to
strengthen the northern Hausa-Fulani power base in the Nigerian Federation. Six
months after taking office, General Muhammed was assassinated in a coup attempt.
Lt. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a western war hero, took over as the Head of the
Supreme Military Council and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He
continued with Muhammed’s agenda, and empaneled selected Nigerians to draft a
constitution after which he supplanted the Land Use Decree of 1978 which was not
in the agenda of the Constituent Assembly, but was surreptitiously added to the
constitution of Nigeria in 1979 without due process. As will be demonstrated
subsequently in this chapter, the above geopolitical and historical perspective of
Nigeria has impacted exceedingly on the soil governance system, which is in effect
the bane of major inter-ethnic conflicts in the country.
3.2 Ethnic and Economic Dimensions to Soil Governance
Conflict
Nigeria like most African countries is facing the problem of food security, degradation of land, desertification, pollution, and creation of wasteland. In practical terms,
these problems have led to mass migration of the Fulani herders, who are Muslims,
down to the southern part of the country due to insufficiency of grass in their home
land to sustain their livestock. In the cause of their movement, their cattle often
16 Duggan (2009).
17 Osaghae (1998).
162
B. B. Orubebe