The Igbo must go campaign that has unfortunately gained traction is a combustible piece of mischief that should not be allowed to fester any further. The authorities should immediately nip it in the bud.
Whoever is engineering this kind of provocative campaign at this time when the nation is still seething in the cauldron of hunger protest and those spreading it are certainly enemies of our country. The reckless post had penultimate week emanated from an X handle, ‘Lagospedia,’ which gave the Igbo living in Lagos and other Southwest states 30 days to leave the region.
It reads: “Lagosians and every Southwest stakeholder should prepare for the massive protest of(sic) #IgboMustGo on the 20th-30th of August, 2024. They have one month from now to leave and relocate their businesses from all Southwest states. We urge all the Yoruba living in the Southeast to return home!”
Coming on the heels of the End bad governance protest, with all the destructions and disruptions, this post is rather senseless, impolitic and derisory. It is a pity that some people do not seem to think critically about the likely repercussions of their actions before they launch out.
Some are so malevolent that they do not care what becomes of their impetuous actions. Poor students of history and those who ignore the insuperable lessons of history risk its recrudescence.
If our memory serves us right, needless ethnic resentments like this senseless campaign led to the avoidable Rwandan genocide about 40 years ago. Over 800,000 were killed within just 100 days in that ghoulish expedition!
Grisly ethnic tensions and animosity had been an interminable interchange between the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis in Rwanda for years. It was the madness of April 6, 1994 when the then Rwandan President,Juvenah Habyarimana, a Hutu, was killed; his plane having been shot down, that eventually provided the combustion that stoked the genocidal fire. Between April and May, 1994, Rwandan streets were paved with blood, tears and sorrow in a mindless genocide that could have been avoided.
The Rwandan narration may not be exactly the same as ours, but we can learn vital lessons from it. And that is, that we should manage our ethnic resentments with tact to avoid being boxed into an ineluctable enmity that could spew blood. So, Igbo must go campaign is an irritant. It is needless.
Expectedly, the campaign has generated serious outrage in the social media. And all those who spoke are unanimous in their condemnations, on one hand, and admonitions to the authorities, on the other.
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, denounced the threat to launch the Igbo must go protest between August 20 and 30, 2024, distancing the state government from what he termed “reckless, divisive and dangerous rhetoric” shared in the post.
A statement issued by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Gboyega Akosile,said: “Governor Sanwo-Olu views the post as not only reckless and divisive but an attempt to sow a seed of discord between the Yoruba in the Southwest and others, especially those who have made Lagos their permanent abode.
“The governor appeals to Lagosians not to allow any person or group of individuals to create tensions in the state, calling on the security agencies to promptly investigate those behind the handle and bring them to justice. Mr Governor enjoins Lagosians to ignore the post and posts of that nature, promising to double his efforts towards ensuring lasting peace in the state.”
In its own reaction to the campaign, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, called on Nigerians living legitimately in any part of Yorubaland not to entertain any fear about their safety or be afraid of being forced out of the region.
A statement by the organization’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, dismissed the threat to the Igbo, adding that those behind what they described as unwarranted, provocative and divisive campaign “are out to cause disaffection between Ndigbo and Yoruba.”
“Those who are being called to be ousted from the Southwest are bandits and unscrupulous herders who are making life difficult for our farmers and rural women. In this wise, our Igbo brothers and sisters living in Lagos and Southwest should not entertain any fear of expulsion. We are all Nigerians,” Afenifere said.
Calling on security agencies to round up the campaigners, the organization said Governor Sanwo-Olu is doing much to provide for the citizens of the state without regard to tribe, religion or any other coloration. “It is, therefore, very insensitive and mischievous of any person or group to come up with any insinuation laden with ethnic hatred, especially at this time that tension is high in the country,” the statement concluded.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, in a post on his X, said the campaign “is deeply troubling and fundamentally opposed to the unity and co-existence that define our nation.”
He said the “inflammatory rhetoric” is capable of breading hatred and bigotry leading to devastating outcomes like it did in Rwanda, urging the Nigerian government and security agencies to urgently investigate, arrest and prosecute individuals promoting ethnic discrimination and violence.
“Nigeria’s strength lies in its diversity and we must resist any efforts to sow discord among our people. Lagos and Southwest have long been melting pots of cultures where individuals from various backgrounds contribute to our collective growth and development. The Igbo community, along with all other ethnic groups, is an integral part of this mosaic,” Atiku posited.
The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, described the development as “deeply disturbing, “ adding: “I have read genocidal threats on X against the Igbo tribe calling for their relocation. Let me pointedly warn that such rhetoric threatens our unity and it is fundamentally opposed to our constitution, which guarantees every Nigerian the right to live and work freely anywhere in the country.”
Obi continued: “Those in authority must show leadership and urgently speak out against such divisive rhetoric. Immediate action should be taken to investigate, arrest and prosecute those behind this heinous agenda as a deterrent to others who might consider pursuing similar paths that threaten our national security and unity.”
He admonished Nigerians to stand against the divisive rhetoric “to champion unity, tolerance and understanding. Our future depends on our ability to live and work together harmoniously… We can only overcome our national challenges if we act together as one people united under one God.”
The Southeast Caucus in the National Assembly, in their reaction, expressed surprise and disappointment that the Igbo are still being made scapegoats and targeted as instigators of protests. The caucus reacted in a statement jointly signed by Enyinnaya Abaribe(Senate) and Igariwey Iduma Enwo(House of Representatives).
They said: “This dangerous ethnic profiling is unwarranted and must stop. It was such profiling that led to millions of deaths in Nigeria from the 1950s and the unfortunate civil war in 1967-70. Elsewhere in Africa, it led to the genocide in Rwanda and Xenophobia in South Africa. Such should not be our fate in Nigeria.
“We demand, therefore, that the security agencies bring to book the purveyors of these hate speeches in line with the cybercrime act and criminal laws of the country. We continue to appeal to Igbos across the country to remain law-abiding.”
The Lagos indigenes, under the platform of De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, denounced the campaign. A statement from their media office, clarified: “We have nothing to do with the campaign. It is the handiwork of Southwest Yoruba who are non-indigenes in the state…
“The indigenes of Lagos State unequivocally condemn the protest and campaign of calumny against our Igbo residents. We categorically dissociate ourselves from it,” the group said, admonishing: “The current level of peaceful co-existence the citizens are enjoying should not be allowed to dissipate.”
In retrospect, an Igbo must go campaign would ordinarily not have arisen at all before the 2023 presidential election. But the maelstrom and inveterate hostility that characterized that election came to widen the ethnic fissures between the south easterners and south westerners.
The degree of slugfest and pettish interchange on social media between the two political divides before, during and immediately after the election beggars belief! That election was badly fought and it created so much bad blood.
However, politics apart, both groups, in their own rights, possess virtues that could make them to ordinarily co-exist peacefully. The Igbo, on one hand, are renowned for their uncanny, unerring instincts for commerce. They can sniff good business opportunities afar off.
And because of their ingenuity and rumbustious business disposition, they have always been a big plus in whatever environment they operate. They are highly itinerant in their quest for business opportunities and so, everywhere they find themselves is home.
It is said that any community in Nigeria, however small, where you do not find an Igbo man operating at least a kiosk or chemist shop, do not stay there because it is not habitable!
The Yoruba, on other hand, who are generally education-craving, are very generous and hospitable people who welcome visitors with both hands. They can sacrifice anything, including their comfort, to please their visitors and neighbours.
The Yoruba, who cherish their integrity, what they call ‘omoluabi’ in local parlance, will ordinarily never seek to hurt their visitors or neighbours for whatever reason. So, threatening to evict the Igbo from Lagos and other Southwest states does not represent the Yoruba at all. In other words, there are more that unite the two main ethnic groups than divine them.
Besides, by constitutional provision, every Nigerian reserves the right to live and do business anywhere of his or her choice in Nigeria. Specifically, Chapter 4, Section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution dealing with the Right of Freedom of Movement provides: “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.” The incendiary Igbo must go campaign, therefore, does not hold water. It should be ignored.
We urge leaders from both divides to urgently reach out and hold fence-mending parleys preferably on the platforms of their respective socio-cultural organizations, Ohanaeze and Afenifere. The meetings should deliberately be shorn of political influence or inputs so that they can discuss frankly.
They should not allow politics and politicians to further drift them apart. Leaders come, leaders go but the people remain. The parleys are necessary to disabuse the minds from both sides of any misgiving, so as to build confidence and foster fresh mutual confidence and trust.
Let the authorities also heed the admonitions of stakeholders who spoke passionately about the ludicrous campaign. They should investigate the source of the provocative post, round up its promoters and publicly prosecute them to deter other irascible ethnic jingoists.
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