Toxicity Of Tinubu’s Lagos Politics

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

As I reflect on the happenings in Lagos State since the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, I cannot help but see the spectre of the 1994 Rwanda genocide unfolding before our very eyes. In the years leading up to the 1994 genocide, the Hutu-led government used all its propaganda machinery to spread bigotry and hatred against the Tutsi, painting them as a threat to Rwanda, exactly the same way a section of the Lagos community is inciting hatred against Ndigbo, portraying them as enemies of the Yoruba.

*Tinubu and Sanwo-Olu in Landon
“For genocide to occur,” Kennedy Ndahiro, Rwandan journalist wrote on March 13, 2014, “it must be preceded by the dehumanisation of a group … dehumanisation removes the individuality of a person. There is no difference between the group and the individuals. When done well, pity for the 'other' becomes impossible and extermination becomes the natural next step.”  In the last three weeks, Ndigbo have been grossly dehumanised in Lagos. They have been portrayed as ungrateful migrants – never mind that they are Nigerians – who want to appropriate Yoruba heritage. 

Nigeria: Musings On Our Sham Democracy

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After surviving the dark days of an autocratic military rule with its grisly infringement on the liberal ethos that conduces to good governance and development, we do not need a reminder of the need to be protective of the nation’s democracy. But the tragedy is in the amnesia that goads on to make our environment perpetually in hospitable to democracy.

In no other time in our national history is this mental affliction more horrid than the President Muhammadu Buhari’s era. Since he became the president, the democracy that paved the way for his emergence as president has been so travestised that it poses a huge danger to the continued existence of the nation. Since Buhari’s demystification after he became president, we thought that we could no longer be shocked by the depth of perfidy into which he and his All Progressives Congress (APC) would sink. But we were mistaken. For the recent political absurdities in Osun State have shown that we are vulnerable to further rude shock at the hands of Buhari and his APC.