YORUBA AND IGBO RELATIVITY

Ethic groups in Southern Nigeria, right from the colonial period, have been deeply divided in a way that they have never rallied round a single leader for the whole. This is in contrast to the North where various ethnic group unite behind a leader, if not before election but definitely after election. The struggles of Southern leaders to have a unifying leader who could command respect among southerners paid off partially, if not wholly, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former military Head of State, became the first former military Head of State to become civilian President.During his two-term presidency he puts in place policies that attempted to weave Southern leaders together. Policies such as making an Igbo man the first Chief of Army Staff from the South; reserving Senate leadership for the Igbos throughout his Presidency, above all, ensuring that a southerner of Ijaw origin, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, became the first Southern Minority President of the Nation. These form the backdrops of recent unity call for South-South, South-East, and South-West and to some extent, Middle-Belt unity.