Skip to main content

Biafra: Nigeria's Vice-President Promises Hate Speech Crackdown as Ethnic Tensions Rise

Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has promised to clamp down on hate speech and ethnic incitement after a recent call by groups in the north of the country to expel members of the Igbo ethnic group.
Osinbajo, who is leading the West African country while President Muhammadu Buhari is on sick leave, met with leaders of northern states in the capital Abuja on Tuesday in a bid to calm recent tensions between some of the country’s main ethnic groups.
Last week, a coalition of activist groups calling itself the Northern Youth Groups gave Igbos living in northern Nigeria three months to leave the region or face forcible expulsion. The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s three main ethnic groups and are traditionally based in the east of the country.
Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has promised to clamp down on hate speech and ethnic incitement after a recent call by groups in the north of the country to expel members of the Igbo ethnic group.
Osinbajo, who is leading the West African country while President Muhammadu Buhari is on sick leave, met with leaders of northern states in the capital Abuja on Tuesday in a bid to calm recent tensions between some of the country’s main ethnic groups.
Last week, a coalition of activist groups calling itself the Northern Youth Groups gave Igbos living in northern Nigeria three months to leave the region or face forcible expulsion. The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s three main ethnic groups and are traditionally based in the east of the country.

The call evoked the run-up to the Biafran war, which raged for three years following the declaration of an independent republic of Biafra in 1967 and left at least 1 million people dead. Prior to the secession of Biafra, Igbos had fled to eastern Nigeria after facing persecution in other parts of the country, following a 1966 coup d’etat carried out by mainly Igbo soldiers.
Nigeria is sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines. Besides the Igbo, the other two main ethnicities are the Yoruba, concentrated in the west, and the Hausa-Fulani, mainly in the north. The country’s 180 million-strong population is split between a mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
“It is the resolve of the government that none will be allowed to get away with making speeches that can cause sedition or that can cause violence, especially because when we make these kinds of pronouncement and do things that can cause violence or destruction of lives and property we are no longer in control,” said Osinbajo, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times.
Osinbajo is due to meet with Igbo leaders from eastern Nigeria on Wednesday, before holding a joint meeting with northern and eastern leaders later this week.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers

  Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers Published   on   April 26, 2024 By   Esther Chisom Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre. DAILY POST recalls that 119 inmates escaped from the prison following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday. The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to a more conducive environment. “This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates; before this incident, we had 499. “This is a testimony to what we keep talking about the overcrowding of our correctional centres. “You can look at the environment, it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security, and better infrastructure,” he said in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Mr Ozoya Imohimi. Tunji-Ojo said the ministry is already working behind the scenes to build a be...
Post a Comment
Read more

FG set to deploy first batch of CNG vehicles ahead of Tinubu's one year in office come 29th May 2024

  FG announce plans to deploy the first batch of CNG Vehicles ahead of first anniversary of Tinubu in office on May 29th 2024. Said N100 billion was allocated to purchase 5,500 CNG vehicles, 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. Deployment of CNG vehicles is parts of FG’s vision to have at least one million natural gas propelled vehicles on the roads by 2027. The Federal Government has announced plans to start the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses and tricycles   for mass transit ahead of Tinubu administration’s first anniversary on May 29th. The move was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday April 21st 2024. According to him, the Federal Government allocated N100 billion last year to purchase 5,500 CNG-powered vehicles (buses and tricycles), 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. The funding, which is part of the N500 billion palliative budget, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jonathan Opens Up: "Why I Don’t Want To Testify For Metuh"

An application filed by former President Goodluck Jonathan before the Federal High Court in Abuja has revealed further reasons why he wants to be excused from appearing as a witness in defence of a former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh. Metuh is standing trial on charges involving, among others, the N400m he (Metuh) received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014. The former President in his motion challenging the subpoena issued on him, stated that with “with several attempts by some persons in the current dispensation, to harass, intimidate and rubbish” his reputation and that of his wife, the witness summon issued on him upon Metuh’s request was a ploy to drag his name in the mud. He also argued in the motion filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Monday, that his testimony being sought in Metuh’s trial, would not only amount to an invasion of his right to privacy, it would also expose him to a cri...
Post a Comment
Read more