By Yakub Aliyu
"Many years have gone by since historians first appreciated the value of genetic evidence from the study of blood constituents in historical analysis. Blood constituents lie entirely outside human volition; the light they shed on past relationships is therefore, invaluable.
The frequency of any varies from population to population, but they are known to be almost identical in populations related to one another.
The incidence of any particular gene in any population remains relatively constant and stable for many centuries and this has provided a basis for genetic studies in various populations...
...A cursory look at the provisional genetic map of Nigeria constructed from available data shows that there is some similarity in the genetic constitution of most of Nigeria's people.
Although differences may be seen between certain communities within the country, this difference in the vast majority of cases is not as great as what is found when they are compared with other racial groups or even some groups within the continent of Africa itself.
So it is possible that the original people in the area now regarded as Nigeria were descended from the same ancestral stock and that the difference in the genetic pattern within the country may be due to bombardment by external genes...
...These facts together with the overall similarity in the genetic pattern showing in most of Nigeria's people confirm in essence the picture which historians have reached on other grounds, rejecting any idea of dramatic migration from far a field and emphasising the great antiquity and stability of settlement.
Nigeria's peoples are probably descended from quite Stone Age population living pretty much within the country's present boundaries."
Source: "Genetic Markers in Nigeria" by Dr. Peter Uche Isichie, M.D., D.T.M.& H, Appendix in: "A History of Nigeria" by Prof. Elizabeth Isichie, Longman, London, 1983, pp. 481-87
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