It is a video you have probably seen. These
days of violent tribal evangelism you probably
would have watched the 1.28 seconds clip
and not the full 2 minute clip. Therefore I
insist you first watch this 2 minute clip to get
the whole conversation then proceed to
understand why I present that Ahmadu Bello
the Sardauna was perhaps not the man you
have been poisoned to think he was by
mischievous media warriors and exuberant
malicious youth history revisionists.

Watch clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=8y1Zpk4DrlA

And here is the text:

White man : One thing I have noticed while I
have been here is that northerners seem to
have a n obsession about the Igbos. Could
you explain that to me?

Sardauna : Well, the Igbos are more or less
the type of people, whose desire is mainly to
dominate everybody. If they go to a village;
to a town, they want to monopolise
everything in that area. If you put them in a
labour camp as a labourer, within a year,
they’ll try to emerge as head man of that
camp, and so on. Well in the past, our people
were not alive to their responsibilities;
because, as you can see from our
northernisation policy, that in 1952 when I
came here, there weren’t 10 northerners in
our civil service here…and I tried to have it
northernised and now all important posts are
being held by northerners.

White man: Is this policy of filling all key
posts in the north solely with northerners and
not with other Nigerians a temporary or
permanent one?

Sardauna: In actual fact, what it is, is a
northerner first. If you can’t get a northerner,
then we take an expatriate like yourself on
contract. If we can’t then we can employ
another Nigerian but on contract, too. This is
going to be permanent, I should say, for as
far as I can foresee; because it would be
rather dangerous to see the number of boys
we are now turning from all our learning
institutions coming out (and) having no work
to do. I’m sure that whichever government of
the day might be rather embarrassed and it
might even lead to bloodshed.

White man: Doesn’t this damage the idea, Sir
of all people in all regions in Nigeria being
co-citizens of one country?

Sardauna: Well it might but you are new to
our region – how many northerners are
employed in the East or in the West? The
answer is (none), and if there are any, there
may be 10 labourers employed only, in the
two regions.
—end—

So what transpired?
There Was No One Nigeria At The Time

First we must understand the time frame and
context of Sardauna’s conversation with the
White man.
At the time Nigeria was not a central
governed country, it had the regionalism
many today fight for. In 1939, Bernard
Bourdillon the Governor-general created the
three provinces and established federalism in
Nigeria.
At independence regional legislatures were
established. Three unique legislators for three
mostly autonomous regions.
Northern region
Eastern region and
Western region
It was at such a time, when there were three
literally independent regions that Sardauna
was interviewed. Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna
was the first premier of the Northern Nigeria
region, he ruled from 1954 till 1966 when
Nzeogwu murdered him.
So when people attempt to portray Sardauna
as a tribalist, they are being mischievous and
malicious. Under true regionalism, your duty
as premier of your region is to bring out the
best output for the indigenous people of your
region. You have no obligation to serve to
the needs of the people of other regions over
your own. As can be noticed in the
last response by Sardauna, which is
purposefully cut out of most agitator and
fake evangelists’ clips on the net, when pried
further, late Sardauna actually said that at
the time the north was actually more
accepting of other regions than the other,
Western and Eastern regions. He said tops,
you will find 10 northerners working in the
civil service of the Eastern and Western
regions and these northerners will be no more
than mere lowest class laborers. This
deposition has not been contested or denied
by any of the revisionists.


The Men That Ended Regionalism And Made
A One Nigeria

Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, being a
Southerner who grew up in the north and was
perhaps more Hausa than Igbo did not
respect the tenets of regionalism and perhaps
had other desires and agenda for Nigeria. He
struck with the first coup and killed
Sardauna. Aguiyi Ironsi from the South East
who was perhaps not a very bright man, took
over and without proper thought, scrapped
regionalism and this is how we got here
today. It was two South Eastern men in
succession that did away with the
regionalism and true federalism system and
replaced it with a One Nigeria. Only in the
context of a One Nigeria without regionalism
as obtains today can Sardauna’s comments
be taken as tribalistic. Think about it, while
Sardauna was talking about mere
employment, Ojukwu was asking for an entire
separate nation. This was the terrain that
obtained at the time. Up to me, I reject their
regionalism methods that cut out, I am for no
borders and equal opportunities not just for
other regions but other African nations,
“everybody come inside,” however we must
understand the roles and particular
challenges of these men in those peculiar
times of a new regional Nigeria.
It is important to note that Sardauna in this
clip never denigrated Igbos, rather he
described their excellence in rising up the
ladder and conquering all challenges to
dominate in competitive fields of human
endeavor.
This is of course a very beautiful and
expansive tale and we invite all young
Nigerians to read their history more and be
better informed so they are not used as
couriers of power drunk tribalist
megalomaniacs who are anti African unity
and progress.

A Side Note: The Wise’ol Buhari Will Satisfy All Nigerians

I must mention that I can put my anythings
on the table to bet and assure Nigerians that
Nigeria of today has one of its best leaders
and perhaps the least corrupt leader in not
just Africa, but the entire world. Be assured
that Federal character will be respected and
there shall be enough appointment
opportunities for decent and unfortunately
also for parasitic, federal employment
dependent politicians from most regions (it’s
500 ethnic groups and rather impossible to
satisfy all).
There are just so many lies you have
probably been told. But the truth eventually
comes out sooner or later. It always does.
And only the truth gives and guarantees true
freedom.

www.newsrescue.com/surprising-truth-ahmadu-bello-sardauna-was-correct-in-northernisation-agenda/


Dr. Peregrino Brimah;

http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something]
Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: @EveryNigerian

We know

Long story, summary pls

I may not agree with many of the things the Sardauna was reported to have said in his lifetime, but I will always appreciate the fact that he gave scholarships and opportunities to all Northerners - irrespective of their ethnicity, location or language.

In fact, he went out of his way to ensure that Northern minorities under his regime got the same benefits as core Northerners.

Unfortunately, his lieutenants that succeeded him did not put the interest of Northerners first, like he did. They only took over power to fill their pockets at the expense of their people's well-being.

Interesting.

NaijirianKing:
This is an interesting write up, however it is slightly incorrect, Nzeagwu was not from Eastern Nigeria, or even South Eastern Nigeria (SE Nigeria didn't exist back then), he was actually from Western Nigeria, Or what later became Mid-Western State just before the civil war.

Moreover, Ironsi centralized the government in order to restructure it once civilians took over. Unfortunately he was killed at the beginning of his term as Head of State. Once he was killed, the coup plotters decided to keep the unitary system as it would allow for more control over the other regions. Part of this desire was control over the oil in the East.

With all due respect, Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, was an Igbo man from Okpanam. The issue of whether his hometown was located in the East, South-East, South-South or West does not arise. It amazes me that when issues like this come up, people try to re-assign the ethnic origin of the individual, to a geographical region or latitude.

Finally, Ironi never had any intention to restructure Nigeria. There is nowhere that he gave a confirmation of such an intention. He abolished federalism and set up the central or unitary system of government, that has contributed to the political woes of many areas today.

Like a writer once said: "If Chukwuma had not struck, Ironsi as a national leader would not have emerged."

...

Malicious

The Sardauna was merely vocalising what was normal in all the other three regions (West, Midwest & East) at that time; he like his regional counterparts was protecting and working for the best interest of his people.

That easily explains why his speech didn't raise any eyebrows then or was not considered out of place by any of his contemporaries; his present critics are only doing so out of political mischief or at best out of ignorance of the realities on ground at that stage in Nigeria's history, when it once existed as a regional country with regional champions in healthy competition with one another.

The Sardauna was also correct about the Igbo desire to dominate (which is not outrightly a bad thing but could be a problem if it should become disproportionate, especially in a multiethnic mix such as Nigeria) which also could explain for the event that followed, eventually costing the Sardauna his own life along with many innocent others.

Because of this desire to dominate, Igbos couldn't stand the fact that northerners were at the helm of affairs in charge of the country, they hated that Hausa/Fulani (who they deem as inferior) were in fact dominant over them.

When they realised they couldn't change things through the ballot box; they then instead decided to do it by force, through the barrel of the gun.

The primary executioners of this reversal, the Igbo coup plotters, were themselves short changed by another Igbo man, Agui Ironsi, who took over power and furthered the Igbo agenda by demolishing the regional system of government that was hitherto in place and replaced it with the unitary system (we have inherited till today) in order to give him (thereby Igbo) full control over the entire country.
He furthermore completed the Igbo agenda by appointing his fellow kinsmen into key positions in government and the civil service.

That along with his fellow Igbos openly taunting northerners about the lopsided killing of their leaders (the Sardauna & co) and changes clearly giving Igbos undue advantage over northerners, were what that broke the camel's back and led to the northern led counter coup of July 1966 which brought Gowon into power.

In short, we are all now paying for this Igbo sin to force change and dominate everybody; they have ended up derailing and messing up the whole country - after doing so, they are now blaming everybody and wanting to jump ship for Biafra - what an unfortunate lot.

Lordave:
But whenever an Okpanam son/daughter makes a positive achievement he or she becomes Delta Igbo, Niger Deltan or Igoid

Hypocrisy eshi gbuola m ebe a.

Anyway, I'm happy Nairalanders are beginning to acknowledge that Igbo people do not only inhabit the South East as their ancestral home but also live in large numbers in their fathers' land in the South South.
It's good Igbos can now be rightfully called Niger Deltans and we can now also say "we south south".

Okwu afù ̣gbàlù ̣m̀ ghalịị. Hypocrisy, kwa?? Where?? You should actually take up any issues you have about Nzeogwu's heritage or place of origin with NaijirianKing. He was the one who initially alleged that Nzeogwu was actually from the West.

Secondly, to most other non-Igbo, all Igbo people from South-East or South-South are jointly seen as Igbo. The distinctions about whether someone is Delta-Igbo or Igboid, are actually made by the core Igbo themselves and their SS relatives.

On NL, there have been folks from Ikwerre who have argued that they are not Igbo; while there are others who would gladly claim they are part and parcel of the larger Igbo community. The same thing goes for those from Delta.

The rest of us who are non-Igbo will only address your people, by what they choose to call themselves. No man can enforce any identity on another individual, which he does not want to bear.