A few weeks ago, a palpably anti-Igbo ethnic group video sprung up from somewhere in the Northern part of Nigeria. It brimmed with hate and purveyed the usual suggestion that some ethnic nationalities must control the political affairs in Nigeria. Its target was the Igbo, who had earlier been given a notice to leave the North by a group which called itself the Arewa Youths. Due to the curiosity it evoked among a wide spectrum of Nigerians who sought to know what it offered, the video has since gone viral, literally dominating the social media space. There are unconfirmed reports that some radio stations in the North are also spreading the contents of the objectionable video.
In the video, an unknown female artiste sings a song in Hausa which calls for genocidal action against the Igbo. The hate song, which was carefully worded, was doubtless produced with the intention of deliberately causing widespread incitement of Nigerians against the Igbo who live in the Northern part of Nigeria. Coming on the heels of the quit notice to the Igbo, this is indeed a script by some people to plunge Nigeria into an avoidable crisis that may consume its relative peace and tranquility.
If the quit notice handed down to the Igbo succeeded in fracturing the hitherto delicate ethnic relations in Nigeria, the hate-laced video has worsened it. Though several unpalatable materials of that nature are being mass-produced and circulated on the social media, none has had the debilitating nature of the video under reference. It has provoked and stoked further, the divisive nature of this country’s ethnic contours and promoted the need for Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities to seek to liberate themselves from the country’s forced unity.
The video has elicited several responses from Nigerians. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which is charged with the responsibility of preventing such objectionable materials from surfacing on the Nigerian air space, has condemned it as capable of inciting hatred against the Igbo. Its Director General, Dr. Modibo Kawu, in a media report, vowed to sanction any broadcast station spreading the video, adding that his commission had deployed a monitoring team to ascertain all the broadcast stations responsible for the spread, with the intention of handing down necessary sanctions.
“It is a serious crisis we have on our hands. We have identified Kano and Kaduna as the most hostile states in the North and have decided to engage stakeholders, including the broadcasters, on the danger of hate speech to national security. We have a serious crisis on our hands and if we fail to nip it in the bud, it may degenerate into a genocide. We will not allow this to happen. Hate speech is endangering our national peace; it was responsible for genocide in Rwanda and we will not allow it to happen in Nigeria. We are collaborating with all security agents to find a lasting solution to these emerging and negative trends,’’ he said.
Even though many eminent Nigerians have also condemned the unchecked inclinations of the hate video, we are forced to ask what the outcome of the Federal Government’s initial consultations and engagements with stakeholders towards dousing the initial tension occasioned by the quit notice, is. This is because, the way the preachments of hatred are metastasizing in the country, an urgent action is needed to curtail the spate of its spread.
The video is an ominous development which bears very identifiable similarities to the preface of the recent Rwandan holocaust and the Nigerian Civil War. In Rwanda, such narratives and name-calling between Hutus and Tutsis as cockroaches, snakes, among others, led to the death of nationals put in the neighbourhood of 800,000 within a few weeks.
As a stitch in time saves nine. There is the possibility that this hate-laced video could breed other counter-videos that could be the precursors of a full-fledged conflict. Just a little spark could cause a monumental conflagration that would make the Nigerian togetherness a mirage for decades to come. While we counsel on the need for caution and extra vigilance, we ask the Federal Government to wake up from its slumber and curtail the spreading narratives of hate and blood that are fast seizing the atmosphere.
