Hope for Return to a Strong Central Government Dim Due to Lack of Trust - It is a drab, thin strip of poster with four faces drawn on it and a few printed words, yet it tells all there is to know about the torment and tragedy of today's Nigeria. The poster presses against the window of most stores and offices in Enugu, the capital of Eastern Nigeria. Distributed by the Eastern government, the poster shows the faces of three men from the Ibo tribe, dominant tribe of the East. Just a few inches away is a fourth face, obviously a Hausa man from the Northern region. "This is your region," the poster says. "Report any strange face to the police." Tribal identity and tribal hatred overwhelm Nigeria. Nigerians no longer see each other as individuals, but as poster-drawn stereotypes of one tribe or another. The feelings are similar to those in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, or in Israel after World War II or in the Deep South after the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation. Hatred and distrust are racial and communal...

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