Why Ethnic Profiling Must Stop!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

It would have been funny if it were not so DANGEROUS! When Muhammadu Buhari was in power, there was ethnic profiling of the Igbo people in the North. Some sponsored “youth coalitions” gave Ndi Igbo quit notice in 2017 because of Biafra agitations in the South-East, which arose from Buhari’s 97%/5% formula of Igbo exclusion.

*Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu and and his wife, Tinubu

Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu co-founded the All Progressives Congress, APC, which has never enjoyed Igbo support.

Ndi Igbo constitute by far the second largest ethnic group in Lagos after the Yoruba indigenous residents. They control the commercial sector of Africa’s sixth largest economy, especially the markets and a sizeable slice of property ownership. They contribute a hefty chunk of the internal revenue that sets Lagos apart compared to the rest of the 36 states. Under a normal political atmosphere, the Igbo population in Lagos should be courted because of their electoral and economic values.

But, since Bola Tinubu took over Lagos, his strategy has been to acquire the populace into his political kingdom. He has largely succeeded in absorbing much of ethnic Yoruba elements, even those who used to be his arch-rivals. The Igbo residents have, however, refused to be similarly absorbed. This is often described by his minions as “lack of respect” for the “indigenes”. They are the only “opposition” that Tinubu dreads, more so after he lost the presidential election in Lagos in 2023.

This is the real reason that Igbo profiling has been packaged in Lagos to contrive a hitherto non-existent “enmity” between them and Yoruba. This has gradually been weaponised as a tool of harassment, intimidation, scare mongering and stoking of tensions at every turn. We saw it after the #EndSARS riots in Lagos in October 2020, the 2023 general elections in Lagos and currently in the #EndBadGovernment protests which Ndi Igbo even officially boycotted.

This time around, an “X” platform codenamed “Lagospedia” was created to mobilise ethnic Yoruba for an #IgboMustLeaveLagos protest slated between August 20 and 30, 2024. While the platform lived out its sick, miserable short life, most of the “big” names spotted as its subscribers were people strongly associated with the Tinubu political movement in Lagos. As the tension built towards a potentially explosive denouement, the platform was suddenly dismantled after garnering over 42,000 subscribers.

A statement issued on behalf of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, condemned the campaign and added:

“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 South-West and other tribes, especially those who have made Lagos their permanent place of abode”. President Tinubu in his early Sunday morning national address on August 4, 2024 also said bigotry had no place in the Nigeria he is striving to build.

Those who know the root of the ethnic profiling in Lagos (which, strangely, is unheard of in other parts of Yoruba land) laughed at this display of crass hypocrisy. The same sources for whom the flame of ethnic bigotry was lit were “condemning” it. Indeed, it was possible that the most visible and unrepentant ethnic profiler in Tinubu’s government wrote that speech for the president.

What it tells me is that, to them, it is just a “game” for their political aggrandisement. I don’t believe we’ve heard the last of it. It will also continue to rear its ugly head because many non-political actors are being attracted to it. Many people who sold their family lands and properties are being made to feel they can get it back through the threat of violence. The fact that Tinubu made it into the seat of president of Nigeria is giving some people “hope” that he could “retrieve” the properties they had already sold.

But they need to be reminded of the other side of the story, which increases the potential danger in this debacle. Ndi Igbo, like other Nigerians, came to Lagos, primarily because it was the capital of Nigeria for 76 years between 1914 and 1991. During that time, the wealth of this nation, which were primarily derived from the oil and gas resources of the former Eastern and Mid-Western Regions, were squandered on Lagos to give it the infrastructural appeal that made it the prime destination of all.

Ndi Igbo, in particular, came to Lagos after the Civil War in 1970 penniless. Not every adult got the fabled 20 pounds. Only those with verified money in the bank got it. Due to the Igbo commercial ingenuity, they have achieved great success peacefully and lawfully in Lagos as in all other places where you find them. None of the ethnic profilers is complaining that their family properties were stolen or taken by force from them. It was a matter of willing buyers and sellers.

You cannot eat your cake and have it back. Violence will never achieve that for you. Violence is called “free-for-all”. When it starts, everyone helps himself. Everyone is bloodied. The whole place will be in ruins. Still, it will not give you back what you already sold because we are bound by a Constitution. Violence is a very futile misadventure; a danger that is best avoided. How can you tell people to walk away from their life’s sweat? Who does that?

An ethnic war will not only be fought in Lagos. There are Yoruba and Igbo people everywhere! How do you manage it in Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, London, USA, South Africa and others? Yoruba people practically own Peckham in London. Adebayo Ogunlesi, owns Gatwick Airport, London!

My prayer is that this ethnic sabre-rattling be buried forthwith. That invisible red line should never be crossed, and no one should release that first blow. It is not worth it. Tinubu can win Ndi Igbo over if he proves his mettle as our president.

Let’s stop playing with fire.

*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues