It hasn't been easy for the country to stay together. Tribes that clashed before independence continued to clash, but nationhood also provided something new to fight over. In the 1960s, Nigeria endured a civil war that left 1 million dead when the Igbo tried to secede and establish an independent state dubbed Biafra. During military times, if you talk, the military just comes to your house and kills you. Now that civilians are in power again, the question is whether Nigeria can survive democracy.
Democracy creates space to do a lot of things, sometimes bad things, dangerous things.
So democracy brings greater challenges to keep Nigeria together. The Oodua People's Congress formed during the violent rule of Gen. Sani Abacha, the last in a line of military rulers who came from the country's north and in 1993 nullified the election of Moshood Abiola, a Yoruba. The OPC armed itself in preparation to bring down Abacha, only to see him die in 1998. The next target was whoever northerners connived to replace him with. But, after a transitional period, Obasanjo was elected.