Today 1st of October, 2023 marks Nigeria's 63rd Year of Independence. 63 years after been freed from colonial rule by Britain, Nigeria is indeed standing strong with a population of over 200 million people and an uninterrupted democracy that's already lasted for 24 years not a lot, but for Nigerians it's a milestone considering the 33 years spent in military rule. Now for most people the fore mentioned information is common but there is a much more popular question ask on every Independence Day celebration- how developed is the country since from 1960- it is also no secret that the answer to this question is much more negative than positive. But today we are not going to talk about the development status of the country but rather the most important and glaring issue the country has faced since 1960, "unity". In 1914 the British colonial administration led by Lord Lugard fused together three regions from Western Africa, the conservative Nothern Nigeria Prote
Lord Frederick Lugard INTRODUCTION The area in Western Africa that became the British Colony of Nigeria can roughly be divided into three major ethnic groups, Hausa in the North, Yoruba in the Southwest and Igbo in the Southeast. The Hausa-Fulani in the North were organized into very large but loose federation of Islamic states known as the Sokoto Caliphate. The political and spiritual leader of the Caliphate is known as Caliph, however due to the large size and lack of communication between the different states it was impossible for the Caliph who was in Sokoto to govern directly. Due to this the Caliph delegated authority to the Emirs who according to Islamic law are his deputies. Obedience to the Caliph by the Emirs maintained their authority and political legitimacy while revenue generated from the states in turn sustained the capitals wealth. By the end of the nineteenth century the Sokoto Caliphate was part of dar-al-islam having established