The unfortunate case of bigotry in Naija

They say love is blind, but that isn’t true. Love sees; it sees with the eyes of kindness. What that means is that love doesn’t prod around looking for faults in the loved one or magnifying what flaws there might be, but it is honest and will guide you to correct what flaws there exist which are detrimental to you. I’ve been thinking about that a lot and thinking of writing as an act of service. So, although I’d rather write about something fun and nice, I’m returning to a topic that makes me so, so mad: ethnic bigotry in Naija. 

Only a few days ago, thanks to Elon Musk’s Twitter messing with algorithms, I was confronted with a thread where Nigerians, old enough to be on social media, were abusing each other (using Soyinka and Achebe as proxies), claiming superiority based on their ethnic groups and ignorant takes. For the record, both men, regardless of what you think of their personal politics, have earned their place as literary greats. I will leave it at that. In any case, it was so painful to see these people who most likely know nothing of each other beyond their ethnicities decide that that is precisely enough to determine how to treat each other. How anyone can think that the ethnic group they happen to belong to, something they had no hand in choosing, makes them superior to others beats me. But we know that as foolish as it is, it is also dangerous. It has led to riots and destruction of properties and lives, and genocides. History as a subject should really be prioritised in our Naija educational system. Make it compulsory and make it extensive.

As if we do not have enough dealing with a country that is becoming increasingly polarised along ethnic lines, some Alfa allegedly said in a speech that Muslims should not “support MohBad” because the latter was a Christian. “And 90 per cent of those supporting him are Muslim.” How stunningly silly and insensitive is it that this young musician’s tragic end is being used by folks who ought to know better to spread hate? The other week, it was a Christian pastor insinuating that MohBad deserved to die because of a “sinful lifestyle.” Anyway, I read the thread about the Alfa with trepidation, afraid I was going to see some level of vitriol, but was pleasantly shocked to see both Christian-identifying and Muslim-identifying folks denouncing the alfa’s speech. People were saying sensible things like how MohBad was a human being first, how wrong the alfa was, and so on. It was a reprieve from the earlier threads full of ethnic bigotry that I read. That gave me some joy. 

However, if despite religious differences, we can find our common humanity at least on Twitter (I’m not blind to the wanton destruction of lives and livelihoods that have been caused by religious violence in Naija), why can’t we find that same degree of unity when it comes to ethnic differences on the same platform? It is intriguing that whereas one can choose to leave/enter a religion, the sense of superiority that the followers of one feel over the others appears to be less than what happens when it comes to ethnicities, which one cannot choose. Maybe the problem is just as much, but I am just not seeing it on my TL. Anyway, I digress. The point I am trying to make is that we must not give up on Nigeria no matter how much foolishness some folks display. 

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I have only just returned from an Achebe symposium and celebration in Princeton, New Jersey, where Achebe scholars, writers and poets, Achebe’s family and his Ogidi community; Achebe’s friends and well-wishers gathered to reflect on Achebe: not simply as a man who lived and died, not even as a writer whose works are still relevant today, but as a concept. Through his writings, Achebe often promotes dialogue and understanding among different ethnic and cultural groups, therefore advocating for a more unified and equitable society, free of bigotry. The Achebean ideal is a life of ethical integrity, of total service to one’s country, no matter how much that country hurts one. Achebe’s challenge to us is to keep loving our complicated nation and to keep working towards making it a better place, no matter how hard it gets. 

And boy, is it hard.