It was a warm July 2018 evening in Pittsburgh. People from all around the world gathered in an apartment to discuss careers, dreams, and global issues. We introduced ourselves to each other. It was my turn: “Hi, I am Pelumi. I am from Nigeria”. My friend from the other side of the world suddenly developed cold feet. I wondered why until when he brought up the issue of the “Nigerian Prince”(meaning: ‘Yahoo Boy’ in local Nigerian parlance). I know that being a Nigerian can sometimes feel like a full-time job and the Nigerian Prince conversation ruined my entire evening on that day. But I was wondering if my friend knew there are over 200 million Nigerians and the Nigerian he had just met does not even know how “Nigerian Prince scams” work. Hence, the crime of one person should never justify the evil profiling of over 200 million others. I immediately reached out to Maureen Onyeziri (who was then a Ph.D Candidate in Microbiology at Indiana University, Bloomington) to share my experience with her and she also unsurprisingly had a heartbreaking “Nigerian Prince” profiling story to share.
Barely five years after Maureen and I shared that moment of hurt, two graduates (Habib Ogunyemi and Kehinde Adebiyi) from the same university (LASU) that I attended and Maureen were called “Boko Haram” by a foreigner here in the United States. Kehinde and Habib are both current doctoral students in Bloomington and they are the typical young chaps most students describe as “scholars” in many Nigerian universities. But think about the shock experienced by two under-26-year-old Nigerians who have never lived outside of Lagos and Ogun States all their lives – profiled for what one notorious Abubakar Shekau allegedly masterminded in faraway Sambisa Forest.
If it’s not okay to profile innocent Nigerians, more than 99% of whom have never physically met a known Boko Haram member in their entire lives, why then do some people think it’s okay to profile and attack innocent Igbos in Lagos for political reasons?
The ethnic profiling of Igbos in Lagos is evil and outrageous. By choosing to exercise their franchise, our Igbo brothers and sisters have not committed any crime known to Nigerian laws. In recent times, some desperate politicians – when clutching at straws – amplify anti-Igbo sentiments at almost every election year. In 2015, there were controversies about ‘perishing Igbos in the lagoon’ if they vote for Jimi Agbaje, who is a child of two Yoruba parents. Hence, contrary to what political propagandists may want us to believe, the targeting of Igbos during elections in Lagos predates 2023. They were targeted during the 2015 governorship election in Lagos, which unlike 2023, had no major Igbo presidential candidate or a major governorship aspirant with a Yoruba and Igbo heritage. I witnessed several elections in Lagos before I left Nigeria and to a discerning mind, any time there is a formidable political opponent in Lagos, politicians from a particular party always stoke ethnic sentiments to cowardly win votes and devilishly preserve their political hegemony in the state.
The enablers of this evil and cowardly act cited comments on a Twitter Space, old tweets by a governorship aspirant, results of the 2023 presidential election in the Southeast, and a fear-mongering takeover of Lagos by Igbos, as the reasons for their inhuman actions. To fact-check most of these feeble reasons, a closer look at the profile of the organisers of the said Twitter Space (where careless comments were made about “removing some Lagos traditional rulers who send thugs after voters”) shows they are faceless and are apparently not even based in Nigeria.
I studied History at the Lagos State University (LASU) for four academic years and I know that Lagos is NOT a no man’s land. It belongs to the Aworis, the Eguns, and the other early Yoruba settlers – long before the contact with Asheru and the Binis (people from the defunct Benin Empire). I also recognise and fully support the lawful preservation of indigenous landowners’ rights and the lawful protection of indigenous heritage in Lagos.
Consequently, it is pivotal to spotlight the fact that the idea of Igbos calling “Lagos a no man’s land” is largely fueled by local politicians who use such propaganda to rile up some groups of people during elections in Lagos. In fact, a Twitter thread recently revealed that one of those who amplified the “no man’s land” rhetoric is not Igbo and the mastermind claims to have fueled the rhetoric to “make Yorubas angry enough to vote a particular way”.
More so, none of those who cited the “No man’s land” comment as a reason for the Election Day assault on Igbos can factually point to a single current notable Igbo resident in Lagos who called the state “a no man’s land”. I attended a Catholic primary school in Ondo State and over 30% of my then classmates were Igbos. Two of my closest classmates (Ugochukwu and Victor) in LASU then are Igbos. They even housed me for months when I had accommodation issues in my 300-level days. Emeka, who is Igbo, is one of my most-supportive friends here in the US. Hence, I have lived and worked with Igbos long enough to know that the concept of “Lagos is a no man’s land” is not a mainstream idea among them.
The “Lagos is a no man’s land” rhetoric is politically-fueled propaganda against Igbos that must be repudiated, pooh-poohed, and permanently sent back to the bottomless pit of hell that shameless politicians bring it from almost every four years.
In terms of the 2023 presidential election results, the Southeast has always largely voted one way throughout Nigeria’s Fourth Republic – regardless of the ethnicity of who they choose to vote for. Think about this: during the 2003 presidential election, Obasanjo trounced Ojukwu (an Igbo historic figure) in all the five Southeast states. If Igbo voters are always ethnicity-driven, as revisionists of history may want us to believe, why did they not blindly pitch their bulk votes with Ojukwu?
Seven presidential elections have been held between 1999 and 2023. So, how did Igbos suddenly become ethnic voters for giving their bulk votes to a candidate of Igbo origin for the first time ever in the Fourth Republic (even though there were Igbo candidates on the ballot in most of the previous six presidential elections)? If Igbo voters are truly primarily driven by ethnicity, then they would have given all their bulk votes to both known and relatively unknown presidential candidates of Igbo origin throughout the Fourth Republic, and not the stark contrary acts they have engaged in for most of this century.
I acknowledge the fact that there were some reckless comments made by social media users before and during the general elections across the country. But these comments from sometimes anonymous individuals cannot justify the bottom-barrel behaviour of attacking innocent old men and women (who most likely don’t use Twitter) on Election Day. And they also cannot justify flogging Waje’s innocent Igbo friend or attacking innocent Yorubas who political evildoers bizarrely claim ‘look Igbo’ or because political thugs wanted them to vote for only one party. It’s the same way the bombing of the United Nations Headquarters in Abuja by alleged Boko Haram members or the reported activities of HushPuppi in Dubai should never justify the unacceptable profiling of innocent Nigerians across the world. We must reject this evil politics of anything goes – that creates ethnic disharmony among loving people – all because of power and a pyrrhic electoral victory.
Most of us will feel bad if we experience racism abroad. But many of us somehow think it’s normal to profile Ebuka, Effiong, Eniola, and El-Rufai because they don’t belong to our ethnic group? We should learn from the dark history of our civil war and the Rwandan genocide.
For a people whose knowledge of history is somewhat limited, to an extent that many of us in different parts of the country cannot distinguish Igbos from the other ethnic groups in the Southsouth. For a people many of who think all Northerners are only Hausas or Fulanis. For a people whose younger generation is embracing inter-ethnic marriages at historic rates: we must reject every form of evil ethnic profiling!
For Nigeria to leave its current cul-de-sac, we must eschew this approach of allowing known individuals to mete out injustices to innocent people, on one hand, while telling them to forget what happened and move on without any form of justice on the other hand. Think about it: If thieves should sneak into your house, break your bones, kill your loved ones, and tell you to heal and move on without any form of justice, will you feel good about it? We need to stop institutionalising injustice in Nigeria! It happened Post-#EndSARS and many young people stomached (and still stomach) the pain from incidents that occurred during and after the protests. It should not repeat itself post-2023 general elections. A country built on a constellation of unaddressed injustices will struggle to make meaningful progress.
We must also ensure that, moving forward, heartless-cum-inept politicians don’t ‘use our heads to break their political coconuts’, proceeds of which would largely be enjoyed by politicians and their cronies, after using sentiments and a few naira notes to manipulate unsuspecting individuals into voting them into office.
We have more in common with the Igbo or Hausa person next door than with the heartless politician who only appears every four years to divide us with callous lies and propaganda. Think about this: when last did that leading politician in your state experience a prolonged power outage or struggled to access world-class healthcare? What about you and your Igbo, Edo, Fulani, Ijaw, or Yoruba neighbours – when last did you guys experience power outage? They are fooling us and we are lighting candles (like the Yorubas would say). We need to wake up!!
And lastly: to the evil doers in high places, always remember that some of the things the Lord hates (as seen in Proverbs 6:16-19) include, “A heart that devises wicked plans and ONE WHO SOWS DISCORD AMONG BRETHREN”. Zion’s travails will soon end and she will bring forth her children; a new Nigeria will eventually be born and everyone will fear God and give God all the glory.
