Hello amazing hivers, hope we are all doing great?
People say that history is composed by the winners, a simple fact explains a lot about why so many individuals accept lies that have been gilded as the truth. The history as we know it is not a mere chronicle of events, but it is also a weapon, a tool and even a disguise. It informs us of what the ones in power would have us believe.
When you examine the history of Nigeria, you start to find out how many histories have been distorted, removed or given one sidedly. The story of how Nigeria gained its independence peacefully is one of the pieces of history that I believe is completely wrong but everyone thinks that it is the correct thing to do. Most individuals especially students are made to believe that the independence of Nigeria in 1960 came as a peaceful and amicable departure of the British, who just picked their bags and said "Well, Nigerians you are now free", that is not the full truth. This freedom that we celebrate every 1st of October was not a gift but a struggle, it was the outcome of demonstrations, jails, struggle and courageous voices of people who were not afraid to die and free themselves.
When you read a couple of old history textbooks, they made it seems like only a couple of educated elites in suits were signing papers and shaking hands. However, what about the farmers who were protesting against unjust taxation, what of the women of Abeokuta who rebelled against the colonial policies and the miners in Enugu who were shot in the 1949 coal strike?. Those are not told loudly enough. It was the actual battles that compelled the British to eventually take their exit. Freedom was not achieved through gracious talks and negotiations but was attained through blood, sweat and sacrifice.
The other significant case of distorted history is the Nigerian Civil war or the Biafran war. When in school, the story is usually narrated in such a manner that one of the sides is the villains and the other the saviors. However, when you hear individuals who went through that period of time, who witnessed hunger, death and displacement, you will realize that there were no victors in that war, both sides lost something.
However, the books on history are mostly biased to the opinion of the political and military victor. In eastern Nigeria, children are brought up with another version, by their parents, which is a sorrowful and survival version. In the west or north, children learn a different version, the one that celebrates the unity of the nation and its triumph. The reality is in between but due to the fact that the official version was written by the victors, the torment and errors committed by other people have been eliminated or kept to a minimum. That is why history classes in Nigeria do not do much in indepth research, they only brush through what actually occurred.
It is one of the most melancholy things that the conquerors not only taught us but also wrote their stories. The same systems created our school curriculums that were advantageous to their ignorance.
However, I think it can corrected but it will require boldness, investigation and concerted action. We have to begin retelling our stories in our own perspective, this is something that is not pleasant to hear yet it should be said. A significant part should be played by writers, teachers, journalists and even filmmakers. Hope is also provided by technology, old narratives are now being challenged through social media people are digging up the records, source checking, and verbalizing the historical lies. As an example of this, we can cite documentaries over colonial cruelty, freedom movements, and unknown heroes. A small group of people can no longer take the story back because all users of smartphones have become possible historians.
However, it is not only a matter of the finger and blame game in rewriting history. It is about balance, it is concerning speaking the truth which is not comfortable.
Funny enough, we all criticize the colonial injustice but we must also tell ourselves the truth about the corruption and tribalism that has eaten up our own leaders after independence. We ought to discuss how greed, absence of cohesiveness and power struggles undermined us. That is the start of the genuine cure which is to accept our wins and losses.
I hope that one day the fake news will be clear and a new generation of people who will be more attentive to truth than pride will be born. When that occurs, history will then not simply be the story of the winners but history shall be the story of us all. The mothers, the fathers, the children, the society that struggled to reach equality, the society that struggled so hard to resist oppression.
At the end, it is not about the victors of history but the lessons we gained, it is the honesty that wins unless we cease our glorification of half truths and begin to tell the whole truth, now is our time to take the pen.
Thank you so much for staying this far, hope you had a good read with me, see you again next time 😁.