Nigeria’s Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has warned that the manipulation of ethnoreligious sentiment contributed to the three-year civil war (1967-1970) in the country.
Osinbajo stated this at Monday’s inaugural edition of The Policy Making and Good Governance Lecture Series Of NIPSS titled “Creating A Homeland For All: Nation-Building In A Diverse Democracy”.
The vice president spoke on the unity of Nigeria and issues related to the aftermath of the 2023 general elections.
He noted that the effect of ethnic sentiments which was at the forefront during the elections has led to bad blood among Nigerians.
“Elections by their very nature, tend to be divisive affairs. Partisan democratic competition compels us to align ourselves with camps that most reflect our ideals and aspirations,” Osinbajo said.
“Almost without fail in every election cycle, politicians overtly or covertly seek to persuade voters that voting for their particular party or candidate is the will of God and that voting for the opposing party is a violation of that divine will.
“Long after an election is over, and long after the leading contenders have sheathed their swords, the rhetoric, the words and the means used to compete have adverse long-term effects on society.
“We have witnessed the catastrophic consequences of the political weaponization of prejudice in places such as Rwanda. No one would have believed that ethnic sentiments would be exploited to the extent that it led to a genocide where 1 million people died.
“We talk about the civil war but ignore the fact that it is the manipulation of ethnoreligious sentiment that eventually boiled over into that tragedy. The demons released by that bloody conflict among brothers are yet to be fully caged & we pay the price of that healing process.
“This is not a chapter of our history that we should ever allowed repeat itself. We must also do the hard work of providing and implementing a framework for fair, just and unifying dealings among our people.
“People do not start hating each other during elections. While political actors may invoke ethnic or sectional sentiments, these social and cultural antipathies already exist, lurking beneath the surface.“
Osinbajo said as Nigerians reflect on the takeaways from the last election cycle going forward, everybody must be conscious and prevent the prevalence of ethnic profiling and other forms of day-to-day discrimination that occur.
THEGUARDIAN
