Historically, the current Nigeria used to have a number of kingdoms, empires, caliphates and chiefdoms, local land lord, among others before the arrival of European colonialism in western Africa. Those kingdoms and empires had traded with outside the world independently particularly with Europe. This extreme diversity in terms of culture, tradition, norm and religion resulted to have a complex system of governance (Musa and Hassan, 2014). The Kanem-Borno Empire (with known history of more than a thousand years), the City-States of Niger-Delta and the Igbo of South-East, the kingdoms of Ife and Benin, the Oyo Empire, were among others. Moreover, the Sokoto Caliphate, which existed for nearly a century before it was conquered by Britain, had ruled most of the Savannah area of Northern and part of Western Nigeria (Crowther, 1976 cited in Musa and Hassan, 2014). In the development of Nigerian federalism, colonial conquest and amalgamation are the major contributors. The European colonizers had formed new territories which were never existed before. This helped them to rule various areas in Africa and the same is true in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the re-organization and fusion of territories or amalgamation was taken place from 1861 till 1914. (Musa and Hassan, 2014) The conquest altered the pattern of socio-economic and political system that existed in each of the empires, kingdoms and caliphates.
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Similarly, the inter-group relation was replaced by enmity, divisions and hatred with a sense of sectionalism, ethno-tribal chauvinism and geographical polarizations. The British colonial administration encouraged communal sentiments among Nigerians. It seized every available opportunity to spread the myth and propaganda that they were separated from one another by great distance, by differences of history and traditions, and by ethnological, racial, tribal, political, social, and religious barriers (Ibid).
Moreover, Musa and Hassan (2014) argue that all the processes of amalgamation by the British colonial rulers were not ‘to serve the people of Nigeria and bring or build a sense of unity between the territories’. “So also, it was not meant for the territories to live as common people with one destiny under a centralized or federal system.” According to Hembe (2005) cited in Musa and Hassan (2014) “In their attempt to justify colonial administration the British helped to articulate the so-called “ideology of tribalism” which placed undue emphasis on the things that divided rather than those that were common to the people they had brought together”. Furthermore, Tella et al, 2014 on their part note that the evolution and development of Nigerian federalism could be dated backed to the period of pre-colonial era. However, the major factor for the origin of federalism was the logic of British interest in colonial Nigeria favored a strategy of divide and rule. Thus, these divide and rule strategy of the British gave support to dismantle the existing structure of the indigenous society and conquer kingdoms, states, empires and republics. As a result of this, the British separately negotiated and made treaties with them to form a federal or confederal arrangement. So such incidents shaped the political history and future of Nigeria as a federal state (Ibid). Tella et al, 2014 point out that: “This means that those that were sympathetic to the cause of Nigerian nationalism maintained that it was for the purpose of administrative convenience that the British
Similarly, the inter-group relation was replaced by enmity, divisions and hatred with a sense of sectionalism, ethno-tribal chauvinism and geographical polarizations. The British colonial administration encouraged communal sentiments among Nigerians. It seized every available opportunity to spread the myth and propaganda that they were separated from one another by great distance, by differences of history and traditions, and by ethnological, racial, tribal, political, social, and religious barriers (Ibid).
Moreover, Musa and Hassan (2014) argue that all the processes of amalgamation by the British colonial rulers were not ‘to serve the people of Nigeria and bring or build a sense of unity between the territories’. “So also, it was not meant for the territories to live as common people with one destiny under a centralized or federal system.” According to Hembe (2005) cited in Musa and Hassan (2014) “In their attempt to justify colonial administration the British helped to articulate the so-called “ideology of tribalism” which placed undue emphasis on the things that divided rather than those that were common to the people they had brought together”. Furthermore, Tella et al, 2014 on their part note that the evolution and development of Nigerian federalism could be dated backed to the period of pre-colonial era. However, the major factor for the origin of federalism was the logic of British interest in colonial Nigeria favored a strategy of divide and rule. Thus, these divide and rule strategy of the British gave support to dismantle the existing structure of the indigenous society and conquer kingdoms, states, empires and republics. As a result of this, the British separately negotiated and made treaties with them to form a federal or confederal arrangement. So such incidents shaped the political history and future of Nigeria as a federal state (Ibid). Tella et al, 2014 point out that: “This means that those that were sympathetic to the cause of Nigerian nationalism maintained that it was for the purpose of administrative convenience that the British