In the last years or so, ethnicity and religion have suddenly gained prominence, negatively though, in the body politics of the country. In fact, even clergymen preach and discriminate among their members. Such imbued and display of ignorance trended in the social media during the last general elections in the country. The shameless display of religious and tribal sentiments has become so embarrassing such that Nigerians today appear to lean more toward their tribes, because the belief of the common man in the street is that the country is sharply divided along ethnic lines, although some pretend, we remain as one united nation.
The seeming deep seated division and suspicion among the different ethnic groups has been blamed on the way politics is played in the country. The political leaders who benefit from playing the ethnic card, when the opportunity presents itself, have continued to pay lip service to this dangerous trend, owing to selfish interest, so to speak! Surprisingly, it was the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that clearly and openly described a particular ethnic group as dot in a circle. Yet, throughout the eight years of the government, it went about hypocritically, talking about hate speech, yet no one was reprimanded or brought to book. We hope that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government will stand tall against such vices, and indeed, chart a new course for Nigeria.
It is on record that the genocidal war in Rwanda fought in the 90s was reportedly caused by hate speech. As the dust of the ethnic cleansing settled, almost a million people lost their lives in that avoidable crisis. The Rwandese today wished the ugly situation could have been prevented by the political class. In his nation-wide broadcast, following the #ENDBADGOVERNANCE protest, President Bola Tinubu warned against ethnic jingoist taking advantage of the peaceful street march to cause mayhem, insisting that his government would not keep quiet and watch those he described as disgruntled elements who hide under political parties or tribes to destroy the country. Quoting him, “There is no place for ethnic bigotry in the Nigeria we seek to build. The law will catch up with those who hide under any religion, ethnicity, party and tribe to threaten others”.
Those who go about openly threatening other tribes in Nigeria, through unguarded utterances on television, social media etc., should be arrested and tried for hate speech. In fact, many of them are in government, where they draw their strength. The Nigeria of today if we must say, is different from the Nigeria of 10 years ago. We are living in an age of rage and fury, the youths of the world today, including Nigerian youths get information at the click of a button, and very fast, as events break.
Therefore, government should walk the talk; reprimand those who are supposed to be reprimanded, and ensure as it did promise, that this should be the last time any section of the country should be asked to leave, under whatever guise. The situation of the country at present does not call for unguarded statements from any individual or groups based on either party affiliation or tribe. Democracy from what we can understand is all about inclusiveness; government of the people, by the people and for the people, not for a few people as we seek to promote the common good.
On the #ENDBADGOVERNANCE Protest
In our last edition, we admonished the federal government, through this column, on the need to allow for peaceful protest as guaranteed by the constitution. We have also watched with keen interest how events unfolded in our country in the last one week, and have come to the conclusion that we have to move on and live together in peace! The government, through the broadcast of Mr. President, says it has heard the voices of Nigerians loud and clear.
May it be so! Again, let us desist from destroying what we have laboured for over the years to build, especially human lives that cannot be restored the moment it’s taken away. Going about displaying other countries’ flags openly is not what we need as a country. Nigeria is a sovereign nation; the only country we can call our own. We must genuinely protect it, and not allow emotions to take us away from the real issue, which is good governance we all crave and hunger for. While we await government to do all it has promised to do under the present circumstance, we call the organisers of the protest to back down, and engage the government through dialogue. The sufferings of our people are alarming and should not be compounded by people taking to the street to vent their anger.
