ABSTRACT
Recent political events in Nigeria have indicated that the national question has not been resolved as clearly seen by the persistent agitation and manipulation o f ethnicity, by members o f the ruling class. The Politicisation o f ethnicity has taken a serious dimension in Nigeria because it has successfully permeated the political, social and economic institutions o f the country, posing an obstacle towards the attainment o f popular national consciousness and national unity (Jinadu, 1995;Tamuno, 1970). Despite thirty-nine years o f independence, ethnic chauvinism and bigotry are the order o f the day. It has reached the extent, whereby some members o f the ruling class, are openly calling for the dismemberment and balkanisation of the country along ethnic autonomous states (Ilenre, 1994). Forgetting that Nigeria went through a civil war, to keep Nigeria one (Dudley, 1973). Empirical examples from different parts o f the world have clearly shown that civil wars have been fought over the ethnic question, millions o f people have been killed, due to the way and manner some individuals have pursued the ethnic question. According to Stavenhagen:
The world has witnessed a number of often-murderous conflicts in which the Ethnic question has played a major role. The whole contemporary history of the Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) cannot be understood without it. The Biaffan war in Nigeria had a major ethnic component. The conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda and Burundi constitutes a particular poignant case in point (Stavenhagen, 1983: p. 115).
