EXAMINING THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ANYIAM-OSIGWE’S GROUP MIND PRINCIPLE
Part 5 of a 6-part scholarly examination by Tetsekela Michelle Anyiam-Osigwe of the Igbo condition in Nigeria from the perspective of her grandfather’s (Sage Philosopher Chief Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe) Group Mind Principle.
THE INDIGEN-CITIZEN
The saliency of our indigeneship is not just a sociological or psychological aspect of our being. It does not just manifest on a metaphysical level, where it is a state of consciousness, but also rooted in linguistic philosophy. This affirmation of identity involves a speech act. It is “we Igbos,” and not “we Nigerians.” Simply by our utterances, we constantly convey and establish this hierarchy of identity in which our loyalty to our ethnic group takes precedence or is made prior to our loyalty to the Nigerian State. To this effect, we prioritise our indigeneship over our citizenship, eroding any sense of patriotism, which is integral to a National Group Mind, and attaching ourselves to a potent ethno-nationalist psychological framework.
Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups and with such diversity, where indigeneship/tribe effectively changes from village to village even in the same state. It should have been easier to subscribe to the Nigerian personality since no one group is largely preponderant and smaller groups cannot effectively mobilise.
However, in a multi-ethnic society, where no one group is sufficiently preponderant, but there is a limited number of core majority groups that can both absorb peripheral minor groups and effectively mobilise to gain (political) influence, loyalty to the ethnic identity will continue to supersede loyalty to national identity.
This is even more so where marginalisation or exclusion is prevalent.
This is perhaps why the Biafra movement has resonated with not only so many Igbos, but even those in the South-South. The June 2016 Kaduna declaration, the Igbo Quit Notice, is likely to spur even more Igbos to mobilise within their own smaller group mind, possibly with the help of other smaller groups.
June 9th, 2017
Three days after the Igbo Quit Notice, a group of Niger Delta militants demanded that the federal government return all oil blocs controlled by Northerners back to the people of the Niger Delta.1
1 Oluwatobi Bolashodun https://www.naij.com/1109218-as-tension-heightens-quit-notice-igbos-niger-deltamilitants-demands-return.html