FROM TRIBAL BLOOD TO NATIONAL BOND Why Nigerians Must Choose Nation Over Tribe By Chidi Ekeh.
FROM TRIBAL BLOOD TO NATIONAL BOND
Why Nigerians Must Choose Nation Over Tribe
By Chidi Ekeh.
“We are not Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw,Tiv, or Kanuri first; we are Nigerians first.”
Let this be the new anthem of our hearts.
🔥 A LESSON FROM KIGALI
A Nigerian once stood in Kigali and heard something that broke him:
“My tribe is Rwanda.”
Not Hutu. Not Tutsi. Just Rwandan.
A people who once soaked their soil in blood now share a single identity.
They chose to remember the pain, refuse to repeat it, and rewrite their story.
Nigeria, when will we learn?
🪞 THE MIRROR WE AVOID
We are a nation of 300 tongues, yet we speak only one language — division.
Our elders still whisper:
“Vote your brother, not the best.”
“Marry your tribe, or bury your peace.”
“That office is our birthright, not theirs.”
We wear tribal lenses so thick that competence looks like a stranger and merit becomes an enemy.
And this blindness has cost us dearly:
Tribal “Gain” — National Pain
A chairmanship slot for “my brother” — 14 million out-of-school children
A minister from “my village” — Hospitals without doctors
A contract to “my kinsman” — Roads that swallow families
A hatred nursed for 54 years — A nation crawling while others fly.
🕯️ THE ARSONISTS AMONG US
Our local leaders — chiefs, imams, pastors, councillors, “honourables” —
do not merely fan the embers of hate; they pour petrol on them.
1. They rewrite history into horror stories: “They killed your grandfather in 1966 — never forget, never forgive.”
2. They turn ballot boxes into tribal battlefields: “If we lose, you’ll be slaves in your own land.”
3. They monetise grievance: A politician pays youths to burn a neighbour’s shop, then tweets condolences.
4. They sanctify discrimination: A boy born in Lagos for 30 years is still called non-indigene — a stranger in his own street.
Their reward: private jets.
Our reward: hashtag condolences every market day.
🩸 THE COLONIAL GHOST STILL WALKING
The British drew lines on parchment, called it Nigeria,
and left us to draw blood defending those lines.
They taught us indirect rule — rule through the tribe, against the tribe —
and we mastered it.
We graduated with first-class honours in disunity.
Every coup, every riot, every election — tribe was both spear and shield.
Independence became in-dependence on tribe.
🌱 THE RWANDAN ROAD: THREE STEPS TO REPENTANCE
1. Remember the Pain, Not the Spite
Kwibuka — “We remember” — not to avenge, but to ensure it never happens again.
2. Legislate Against Division
It is illegal in Rwanda to ask, “What tribe are you?” on any public form.
3. Celebrate Hybridity
Their children now recite proudly: “I am Rwandan before I am anything else.”
✊ OUR TURN: A SEVEN-POINT CALL TO NIGERIANS
1. Change the Question
Stop asking: “Where are you from?”
Start asking: “Where are you going — and how can we get there together?”
2. Punish the Pyromaniacs
Any preacher, professor, politician, or parent who teaches hate must be shamed, sued, sacked, or jailed.
Free speech is not freedom to burn a nation.
3. Rewrite Our Textbooks, Retune Our Tongues
Let every Nigerian child learn and recite:
“Ethnic pride is decoration; national unity is survival.”
4. Make Competence the New Tribe
Hire the best. Vote the best. Celebrate the best — wherever their village lies.
Let excellence become our loudest dialect.
5. Marriage as Missionary Work
Every inter-ethnic wedding is a peace treaty. Attend one, sponsor one, bless one.
The children born today will be the bilingual bridges tomorrow.
6. Traditional Rulers: Crowned Peacemakers, Not Partisan Kings
Any obi, emir, oba, or eze who campaigns for a party should lose his throne.
Their only loyalty must be to Nigeria.
7. National Service as Ethnic Eraser
After secondary school, every Nigerian child should serve one year in a state not their own —
teaching, healing, building.
You cannot hate a people whose children you taught to read.
🕊️ A PRAYER — SECULAR, BUT SACRED
May our ballots see character, not tribe.
May our labour markets value skills, not surnames.
May our griefs unite us more than our grievances divide us.
And may the day come — soon, very soon — when a Nigerian in Nairobi will say with pride:
“My tribe is Nigeria.”
Let that day begin today —
in your heart,
in your WhatsApp group,
in your church, mosque, shrine, campus, boardroom, and in your vote.
Because until we are one, we are none.
Ekeh Chidiebere writes on national identity, leadership, and the rebirth of civic consciousness in 30th October 2025
