Word: nigerias
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...when Hausa officers struck back and installed a Tiv tribesman, Yakubu Gowon, as head of the military government. Some say that Gowon came to power because he was regarded as a man with an even temper and no strong personal ambition. Others said that in the tribal politics of Nigeria, Gowon held an ace, for his tribe dominates the artillery corps...
Whatever the reason, the compromise candidate could not hold Nigeria together. He tried. After the Ibo massacres, he offered concessions, but whatever he did was interpreted by Governor Ojukwu as one more sign of duplicity and hatred. On the one hand, it seemed, Gowon offered friendship, while on the other, the people he governed murdered Ibos. Gow- on was caught. Only punishing the Hausa mobs involved in the riots would have placated Ojukwu, but to punish Hausas when the bulk of the army was Hausa would have been political suicide...
Looking at Nigeria's history, particularly the past twenty years, the outbreak of war isn't surprising. That same broadside which criticized "southern intellectuals" admitted that the country had been divided for a long time: "It is clear," the article said, "that the 'Nigeria' which was forged by the British was a purely artificial creation comprising three main groups which had very little in common apart from their dark skins...
...events is impossible to tell. However, it is a very dangerous line of thinking, for it implies that all evil will disappear once the devil is gone. With that idea, the army presses on, and people look to the surrender or death of Ojukwu as the end of Nigeria's troubles...
Peace will, of course, just mark the beginning of Nigeria's real difficulties, because instead of waging a relatively easy war, the government will be facing staggering problems of redevelopment, relocation, rehabilitation. And the old spectre of triablism will draw strength from the inflamed passions...