Replying the Sultan: Man, Not God, Joined Nigeria

By Pascal Chimezie

The Sultan of Sokoto and Supreme leader of the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, reportedly said recently that it was God which joined Nigerians together.

Speaking at the 2020 Leadership Newspaper award and conference in Abuja on Thursday September 9, the Monarch lashed at the separatist agitators in Nigeria for seeking to dismember the country.

He said, “God Almighty will and can never make a mistake, that is his will and must be obeyed. Bringing us together as Nigerians is not a mistake and that is what God wanted.”

While agreeing absolutely with the highly reverred Monarch that “God will and can never make a mistake,” we need to ask, however, whether it was God that really joined the various indigenous groups in Nigeria together to form one country, or it was a creation of the capitalist British colonial masters!

It’s important we get it straight for obvious reasons. Firstly, to avoid falling into the error of heresy of history. Secondly, there are those who are unaware of the chronological events of the yesteryears such as the youths who, nonetheless, tend to believe whatever they hear from the mouth of highly placed people as an unquestionable truth. These ones must not be misled into believing the wrong thing. Thirdly, and most importantly, it will be utterly blasphemous, insulting and disrespectful, if we should lie against the Holy and innocent God by attributing to God the mistakes and follies of man.  It is a grave sin!

When we talk about the will of God, we need to understand what this means and how it works. God’s will can be express or permissive. It is express when God wills something He desires to come into existence. Or, something that is fundamental to the realization of the ultimate destiny of man. The entire creation, for instance, is an example of an express will of God. The choice of a horrible death by crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary for God’s Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a way of salvation and redemption of sinful mankind, is an express will of God.

But man also has his own will which, more often than not, runs contrary to God’s will. God never interferes with man’s will and whatever man chooses to do with his will. He rather respects it. It will be wrong to attribute the wrong decision of Adam and Eve to God’s will. God created man a rational being. And man is accountable to his actions because he has the gift of dignity, freedom and choice. Whatever he chooses to do with his will, which includes his creative ability, can be accommodated within the permissive will of God.

Nigeria is not a creation of God. Nigeria is a creation of man, a pure act of man! The mercantilist European slave traders started it all. The history of Nigeria can be traced to settlers trading across the middle East and Africa as early as 1100 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the region that is known today as Nigeria, such as the Kingdom of Nri, the Benin Empire, and the Oyo Empire.

From the 15th century, European slave traders arrived in the region to purchase enslaved Africans as part of the Atlantic slave trade, which started in the region of modern-day Nigeria; the first Nigerian port used by European slave traders was Badagry, a coastal harbour in the Southwest. Local merchants provided them with slaves, escalating conflicts among the ethnic groups in the region and disrupting trade patterns through the Trans-Saharan route. The British who saw slave trading very lucrative launched its forces to occupy Lagos in 1851 and formally annexed it in the year 1865. Nigeria became a British protectorate in 1901 and in 1914 the Southern and Northern protectorates were amalgamated to become Nigeria.

The name, ‘Nigeria,’ was smartly coined by Fredrick Lugard’s mistress, Flora Loiuse Shaw, from ‘Niger -area.’ Lord Lugard’s amalgamation of the North and South and his divide-and-rule indirect system of government were done without consultation and consent of the various indigenous peoples that formed, what Chief Obafemi Awolowo was later to describe as “a mere geographical expression,” Nigeria.

It was not written anywhere, be it in the Christian or Muslim Holy Books, that God said, “Let there be Nigeria, and there was Nigeria!” It may well be permissive for God to allow various indigenous groups to be lumped together. But certainly it cannot be for one ethnic group to dominate and enslave others and waste lives with impunity!

Therefore, it is only what God joins together that no man may seek to separate. But what man joins together can be separated, even if it was joined with super glue! Over the centuries, kingdoms and empires have risen. And kingdoms and empires have vanished; the likes of Babylon and Assyria. Yet the world keeps going. No nation or country will cease to exist and the world comes to a halt. Why? Because they are mere creation of man, not God. The best way to guarantee the continual existence of any nation is by deliberately following the path of righteousness, justice and happiness of all the citizens. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin brings a reproach and downfall (Prov. 14:34).

In summary, the disparate indigenous peoples that made up what is today Nigeria had long existed separately and had enjoyed their peaceful existence in their respective domains and kingdoms until the whiteman came with his gunboat diplomacy and started his abracadabra! It is not true that God joined Nigeria together. It is also not true that if Nigerians were to go their separate ways, they will all perish! While it is true that there is strength in numbers, unity and oneness must not be at the expense and detriment of some. As the 13th century saint, Thomas Aquinas, said, “Men cannot not live with one another if there is not mutual confidence that they are being truthful to one another.” The basic questions various groups in Nigeria are asking  border on the basis of nationhood. These questions should be answered.

Pascal Chimezie is a former secretary general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos and a public affairs analyst. He writes in from Lagos