By Eric Teniola
It’s sad, very sad but we must admit that xenophobia is still
subsisting in today’s world. Xenophobia did not start in South Africa
and it will not end in South Africa. Nigeria, now a victim, has
aggressively indulged in xenophobia before. The worsening economic
situation in most countries of the world is encouraging xenophobia and
there is no solution in sight. As a matter of fact it will become
worse. Even within nations and within the various ethnic groups there
is economic discrimination. It will become more aggressive and turn
more violent later. It will happen earlier than expected. There is
frustration everywhere. Everyone is under pressure in the words of
Rastaman Kimono.
In our desperation anyone can be a scapegoat–neighbours, friends,
foreigners, etc. The immigration policy being pursued in the United
States of America is part of xenophobia. Even the referendum of United
Kingdom to quit the European Union commonly referred to as Brexit held
on June 23, 2016 of which fifty-two percent were in support of leaving
the union, is another form of xenophobia. Even the recent closure of
our borders could be interpreted as another form of xenophobia.
Imagine the way we celebrated the closure of the borders.
Economic distress leads to social unrest, breakdown of law and order
and stagflation. Social unrest is generally characterized by the
general dissatisfaction of a group and the unconventional and
sometimes violent way people tend to show it. One example is rioting
or when a large group of people behave in a violent and uncontrolled
way.
According to Wikipedia, Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of that which
is perceived to be foreign or strange. Xenophobia can involve
perceptions of an in-group toward an out-group and can manifest itself
in suspicion of the activities of others, and a desire to eliminate
their presence to secure a presumed purity and may relate to a fear of
losing national, ethnic or racial identity. Xenophobia can also be
exhibited in the form of an “uncritical exaltation of another culture”
in which a culture is ascribed “an unreal, stereotyped and exotic
quality”. According to UNESCO, the terms xenophobia and racism often
overlap, but differ in how the latter encompasses prejudice based on
physical characteristics while the former is generally centered on
behavior based on the notion of a specified people being adverse to
the culture or nation. In other words, xenophobia arises when people
feel that their rights to benefit from the government are being
subverted by other people’s rights. An early example of xenophobic
sentiment in Western culture is the Ancient Greek denigration of
foreigners as “barbarians”, the belief that the Greek people and
culture were superior to all others, and the subsequent conclusion
that barbarians were naturally meant to be enslaved. Ancient Romans
also held notions of superiority over all other peoples, such as in a
speech attributed to Manius Acilius, “There, as you know, there were
Macedonians and Thracians and Illyrians, all most warlike nations,
here Syrians and Asiatic Greeks, the most worthless peoples among
mankind and born for slavery.” Despite the majority of the country’s
population being of mixed (Pardo), African, or indigenous heritage,
depictions of non-European Brazilians on the programming of most
national television networks is scarce and typically relegated for
musicians/their shows. In the case of telenovelas, Brazilians of
darker skin tone are typically depicted as housekeepers or in
positions of lower socioeconomic standing.
In short xenophobia is fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners. Dr.
Kofi Abrefa Busia (1913-1978) was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to
1972. As a nationalist leader and Prime Minister, he helped to restore
civilian government to the country following military rule. In 1969,
he invoked the Aliens Compliance Order and deported an estimated
2.5-million undocumented African migrants, the majority of whom were
Nigerians. Before then the Nigerians had grown annoyingly
enterprising, their business acumen sharper, to the detriment of
Ghanaian businesses. It was this order that forced my late friend, Dr.
Wale Oloyede, the former deputy Comptroller general of prisons from
Ghana to Nigeria. Mr. Layi Alabi, former Managing Director of
Intercontinental Bank was also affected. Also partly affected by the
order like many others was Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao Akala (69),
the former governor of Oyo state who is from Ogbomoso. In fact, the
First Baptist Church in Oke-Elerin in Ogbomoso and it’s environ became
a refugee camp for the Nigerians deported from Ghana. Also affected by
the order was my in-law, Chief Edward Afolabi Abimbola (1930-2017),
the Lijofi of Idanre Land the first industrialist to build a bicycle
factory in Ghana. When the factory was opened on January 16, 1969, the
event made a front page lead in the DAILY GRAPHIC on January 17, 1969.
Chief Abimbola married a pretty Ghananian princess, Miss Lucy Menya
Dudome of Peki town in Volta Region, Ghana in 1965. When he was
evicted from Ghana, he was only allowed to take his wife along with
him and was forced to surrender all his properties in Ghana. So
prominent was he in Ghana before 1969, that the Afenifere Leader,
Chief Ayo Adebanjo became his guest while in exile in Ghana.
Under Ghana’s Alliance Compliance Order, Nigerians and other Africa
and non-African immigrants were forced to leave Ghana as they made up
20 percent of Ghana’s population at the time. The returnees were
mostly children but of Nigeria parents. They knew no other country
than Ghana and that was during the Nigerian civil war. Mostly affected
by the order then were Yorubas from Ogbomoso, Ikirun, Ilorin, Oyan,
Offa, Inisha, Oke-Imesi, Ogotun, Ejigbo, Ede and other towns from the
then Western states. They lost their properties and money in Ghana for
they were given less than fifteen days to pack out. In spite of
appeals by then head of state of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon and
other African leaders especially, Emperor Haile Selaisse of Ethiopia
(1892-1975) and President Hamani Diori (1916-1989) of Niger Republic,
Dr. Busia rejected those appeals. Dr. Busia’s order of November 19,
1969 was that all aliens without valid residence permit were ordered
to quit the country within fourteen days, that is, latest by December
2, 1969.Official explanations for the expulsion as offered by the
Government of Ghana included the following: i. that there were about
600,000 registered unemployed in Ghana, which would be relieved by the
expulsion of the aliens; ii. that the continuing balance of payment
deficit was worsened by immigrant workers and traders who remitted
home some of their earnings; and iii. that the aliens engaged in
smuggling, especially of diamonds. Another important reason for the
expulsion order of 1969 was the economic misfortunes that befell
Ghana. From the late 1960’s through the early 1970’s, Ghana
experienced severe economic decline. It should be recalled that the
Ghanaian economy was cocoa dependent; providing over 70% of foreign
exchange earnings for the country. However, since the late 1950 up
till 1970, the world cocoa price witnessed a continuous decline,
falling by over 75% as at 1969. This engendered an increase in the
cost of living and import shortages.
Nigeria led the formation of the Economic Community of West African
States known as ECOWAS.ECOWAS is a regional political and economic
union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these
countries comprise an area of 5,114,162 km2 (1,974,589 sq mi), and in
2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million. The union was
established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos,
with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the
region. The countries that formed at that time were Cape Verde,
Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bisaau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra-Leone,
Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.
Expectedly Nigeria’s General Yakubu Gowon was made the first chairman
of ECOWAS.
Suddenly Nigeria entered the oil boom era. A lot of migrants from
Africa came into the country in search of jobs and greener pasture.
Nigeria was like the U.S.A., Britain, Germany, South Africa etc of
today, that many Nigerians are queuing up for visas, so as to elope
to. During the oil boom period, there were jobs that Nigerians were
shy or reluctant to do. Such job includes Driver, cobbler (shoe
maker), tailoring (Obi-Oma), security guard, cook, gardner, etc. As
such, those immigrants that came to Nigeria, were more than willing to
do jobs. In fact, in Lagos then, most cobblers, tailors, drivers, etc.
were Ghanaians.
On September 24, 1979, Dr. Hilla Limann (1934-1998) was sworn-in as
the elected President of Ghana. Mr. Limann, a Muslim from Gwollu in
the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region part of Ghana was
elected on the platform of Peoples National Party (PNP). Seven days
later, on October 1, 1979, Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari was also
sworn-in as the President of Nigeria. They became friends. The
friendship extended to parliamentarians of both countries. There was a
strong bond between Ghana and Nigeria at that time. On two occasions,
I was part of the entourage of the chairman of Senate Committee on
Transportation, Senator Uba Ahmed to Ghana. On another occasion I
accompanied the then Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas to Ghana. On
the three occasions, we were hosted in Accra by President Hilla Liman.
He even granted me an exclusive interview in Kumasi, Ghana.
The relationship between Nigeria and Ghana broke down on December 31,
1981, when Jerry Rawlings deposed Dr. Limann in a coup. Initially,
President Shagari refused to acknowledge Jerry Rawlings as the
President but later he had no choice. In 1982, Flight Lieutenant
General Jerry Rawlings raised an alarm that President Shehu Shagari
wanted to help Hilla Limann to overthrow his Military Government in
Ghana. Nigeria stopped the shipping of crude oil on a lone deal to
Ghana. And as this animosity continued between the both governments,
so did it between citizens of both countries.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back which Culminated in the
Deportation Saga of the African Immigrants during the Shehu Shagari’s
Government, was the Robbery Incident at Alex Ekwueme’s house in Ikoyi,
Lagos. Dr. Alexander Ekwueme, the then Nigerian Vice President was
robbed by a group of armed robbers which consisted mainly of
Immigrants.
My then Editor, Mr. Sola Odunfa sent me and our photographer, Thomas
Umoru, to the Seme border to cover the expulsion of immigrants mostly
Ghananians. What I saw was shocking. There was no food or water at the
border. People were begging to be deported. Millions streamed out
through any possible exit they could find — through Shaki, to northern
Benin. Down south, at the Seme border in Lagos, stampedes would kill
many. Dozens were loaded onto open haulage trucks headed for Ghana. To
add to the tragedy,President Jerry Rawlings, Ghana’s military head of
state, had ordered the borders with Togo closed, to desist coup
plotters and insurgents, so there would be no passage for days. In
response, Togo closed its border with Benin to avoid a refugee crisis.
Cars stalled bumper to bumper from the Benin-Togo border to Lagos,
with people caught in sweltering heat and without water. Diseases
spread. The United States sent in aid. The League of Red Cross
Societies airlifted 500 tents, 10?000 blankets and thousands of
buckets. It was tragic. Children were abandoned by their parents. And
all these happened in spite of the ECOWAS treaty.
President Shagari won the election for the second term. On December
31, 1983 he was toppled by Major General MuhammaduBuhari. His first
announcement that night was ”fellow Nigerians, finally, we have
dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent collapse. We
therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated
directly or indirectly in bringing the nation to this predicament, to
cooperate with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future
generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here
and salvage it together. May God bless us all”.
Months after General Buhari took over nothing improved economically.
The prosperity that General Buhari promised never came in spite
imprisoning prominent politicians. For the first time, Nigeria started
to queue for essential commodities like sugar, salt, milk, etc. There
was anger in the land. The government distanced itself from the
people. Nigeria’s foreign friends abandoned her after Nigeria
ridiculed Saudi Arabia as “We are unlike the Sheiks who do not know
how to spend the oil money”. There was resentment all over in the
land.
A publication titled, AFRICA TODAY, published by Chief Raph Uwechue,
captured the mood of General Buhari’s tenure in 1985. In the
publication, it declared “There were further outbreaks of religious
violence by Islamic fundamentalist followers of Maitatsine in February
1985. The riots started in Jimeta, near Yola, in Gongola State. The
trouble started when the police moved in to make a pre-emptive arrest
of members of the proscribed sect who had been congregating in Yola.
The sect offered very stiff resistance, resorting to rampaging,
killing and burning. The Jimeta main market was razed to the ground
and the town was deserted. The rioting was brought to an end only with
intervention of the army brigade based in Yola. After it was revealed
that a substantial proportion of the rioting fundamentalists were
aliens, the government ordered immigration officers to take greater
action to monitor the movement of aliens in Nigeria and to stem the
influx of illegal immigrants. This course of action was dictated not
only by security reasons but also by economic considerations. Aliens
were accused of smuggling and other forms of economic sabotage. They
were alleged to aggravate the unemployment situation by taking jobs
that would otherwise have been available for Nigerians.
On April 15, 1985, the Nigeria government ordered an estimated 700,000
illegal immigrants to leave the country by May 10. If they failed to
do so, the government declared that it would be ‘constrained to take
necessary steps to ease them out of the country’. Residence permits
for aliens would in future carry a special seal to cut down on
forgeries, while identity cards would be introduced for Nigerians. The
Ghananian government sent a delegation to beg General Muhammadu to
extend the May 10 deadline for the expulsion of the aliens. Few hours
after their departure, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Major General
Muhammadu Mangoro announced that there would not be extension. Most
returnees went home penniless. Many were searching for food and water.
It was a nightmare. Expectedly the world condemned Nigeria’s action.”
The recent xenophobia in South Africa was carried out by a mob. The
one carried out in 1969 in Ghana and in Nigeria 1983 and 1985 was a
state policy carried out by Ghana and Nigeria government.
Xenophobia is bad, very bad indeed. It should not be encouraged. It
should be condemned no matter what.
Teniola, A former Director at the Presidency wrote from Lagos.
