Nigeria is gradually tottering on the slippery slope of ethnic conflict reminiscent of the carnage that culminated in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Sadly, ethnic rhetoric has defined Nigeria’s socio-political commentaries in recent times. In 2022, towards the 2023 general elections, I wrote an essay titled Ethnic tension: Igbo and Yoruba beware. Part of my argument in the essay is reproduced below:
“Everywhere you turn, on every social media platform, disoriented elements are busy promoting the stale narrative that the Igbo hate the Yoruba and the Yoruba hate the Igbo. Nothing is more appalling. The peddlers of these hate messages, with hearts full of animosity, magnify every infinitesimal news item, turning it into an emblem of hostile revulsion. They push these offending figments of their imagination into public space to unsettle the polity. One wonders what these purveyors of hate and hostility stand to gain if their bloody intentions gain traction, leading to a breakdown of law and order between the two inseparable, brotherly ethnic groups.”
Since I wrote the essay, ethnic tension has increased, saturating our various newsreels to annoying heights. Disconcertingly, many of the purveyors of these hateful narratives are otherwise educated fellows who grandstand and revel in their pyrrhic eloquence of inconsequential importance.
In 1994, from 7th April to 19th July, more than one million men of the Tutsi ethnic group were killed in a premeditated pogrom by their Hutu ethnic counterparts in Rwanda. Also, more than five hundred thousand girls and women of Tutsi origin were raped by the same Hutu ethnic group. Interestingly, once the violence started, wealthy people and politicians in Rwanda flew to Europe and other safe places while the blood of the common people washed the streets of the country. Unfortunately, Nigeria, the self-glorifying giant of Africa, which pretends to accommodate the most enlightened, educated people on the continent, is gradually walking the same Rwandan route carefully orchestrated by ethnic hate mongers.
The current ethnic tension in the country has blossomed since the last presidential election in 2023. Since then, every development in Nigeria is immediately given an ethnic complexion, even when it is unnecessary. At the centre of this ethnic loathsomeness is politics. Illiterates, semi-literates, and fully literate people, who should know better, have become active participants in the current ethnic detestation in the country. Awkwardly, the federal government and all the state governments have played and are still playing the ostrich, pretending to be unaware of the subtle ethnic fever ravaging the country.
The 2027 election is fast approaching. Nigerians are practically torn to shreds in their support for one candidate or another. Nobody is interested in the capacity of any candidate to rescue the country from its current morass. The debate over who will become president in 2027 is ethnically centred. Many people wouldn’t mind a he-goat to preside over the affairs of this country as long as the candidate is from their ethnic group. Ethnic warriors and jingoists are busy insulting other members of another ethnic group, spreading unforgivable hate, sowing seeds of ethnic division and apathy among colleagues at work, friends, relations, and business allies. Yet, 2027 is still two years away. Surely the politicians have, in the words of Chinua Achebe, “put a knife in the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”. Even those who have not joined the ethnic hate fever are seething with rage, looking for any little opportunity to unleash latent anger against another ethnic group. Who will save Nigeria from this madness? Many WhatsApp groups are in complete ruin due to daily feuds among members, which centre on ethnic hate or considerations towards the 2027 elections. In all of these, I ask a simple question – where is our humanity?
Today, every dispassionate and enlightened Nigerian knows that the country’s economy is in the doldrums. Never mind all the propaganda of the current government and fake economic statistics. Nigerians are wallowing in economic difficulties while the political class embark on unparalleled profligacy and ostentatious living. The economic crucible in the country is affecting every ethnic group. People of all ethnicities go to the same market and are exposed to the same hellish prices of goods and services. But instead of Nigerians coming together and holding the political class accountable, they are busy frolicking in the cesspool of ethnic hate. Ethnic considerations have destroyed all pressure groups in Nigeria. Student unions, market associations and sundry communities of ordinary people have all been balkanized by ethnic fever. It is a well-coordinated and choreographed plan by the ruling class to keep the common people busy and distract them from glaring governance inadequacies. Therefore, common Nigerians from different ethnic groups now see one another as enemies to the delight of politicians. If these brewing tensions snowball into full-blown civil unrest, the political class and the wealthy will all fly out of the country while the blood of ordinary people will water the streets.
In Lagos State, which has been a home to millions of people primarily due to its status as Nigeria’s former political and economic capital, ethnic hate has assumed an official dimension. Streets and landmarks are being renamed in complete negligence of the Biblical admonition in Proverbs 23:10. It is indeed bemusing that people pretending to be educated are behind this regressive and primitive behaviour. All over the world, streets and important places are named after people who have in one way or another significantly impacted humanity. It has never taken on any ethnic dimension until now. But it is happening with the full backing and official seal of the Lagos State government. In all the public universities in Nigeria, hostels bear different names of illustrious persons. In major cities across the country, streets and landmarks bear the names of distinguished personalities. To embark on a renaming of these places across the country after the imprudent action in Lagos would be to turn Nigeria into one landmass of confusion and disorder. By supporting the renaming of streets and landmarks in Lagos, the Lagos State government has increased the decibel level of ethnic tension in the state.
The names of Nigerian heroes like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, Ernest Enahoro, and many other nationalists are emblazoned on streets and other landmarks across the country, including airports, universities, stadiums, parks, government houses, estates, and many more. Should state governments, local governments and even the federal government begin to rename these places to reflect the ethnic locality of such institutions? It is shameful that this kind of infantile attitude of renaming streets and landmarks in Lagos is happening under an otherwise egalitarian, liberal governor like Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Perhaps, the source of this despicable practice is beyond the governor. I am sure some Nigerians have their names after some streets in different parts of the world. Surely, the lives and livelihoods of many people depend on the magnanimity of other people from different ethnic groups. Different establishments, companies, institutions and sundry bodies have people from different ethnic groups working there. I have not read or heard of a company policy where it is stated that people of one ethnic group must not work there, although this sentiment is rife in some public establishments. It is simply the foolishness of ethnic psychology.
Government at all levels, especially the federal government, must react to the heightened ethnic tension across the country. It is gradually assuming a dangerous dimension which may escalate into an uncontrollable inferno beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. The government must be intentional in the fight against ethnic hate. The first pot of call should be the media, mainstream and social. There are people whose only stock-in-trade is to mount the media every day and spread ethnic hate. Such people suffer from psychological disorders and do not deserve to inhabit social spaces with normal people. Unless the ethnic hate narrative is government-sponsored, if not, the federal government must rise to the occasion immediately. We may know the beginning of a journey, but we may not know its end. Bola Tinubu should not allow Nigeria degenerate into chaos under his watch due to political interests. This is a clarion call to all people of equitable conscience to rise against ethnic narratives and condemn them. WhatsApp group admins have the greatest role to play here. Anyone who traffics or shares any ethnic hate-filled post should be removed from the platform immediately, and it must be done judiciously without sentiment. When such posts are allowed because they favour the ethnicity of the WhatsApp group admin, it will automatically attract a hateful response, and the atmosphere will be charged. Radio and TV anchors should immediately yank off anyone who comes on air to spread ethnic hate. Nigerians should massively report anyone who spreads ethnic hate on X (formerly Twitter). It is the collective responsibility of everyone to ensure that our country does not travel the Rwandan route.
Promise Adiele PhD
Mountain Top University