The inhumane killing of Mr George Floyd and many other people across the US has sparked new outrage and hopefully draw more awareness to the issues of police brutality and racism,many people including Nigerians are raising their voice to call for an end to racism not just in America but anywhere it still exist covertly or overtly.
Big Question #Nigerians are being killed on a daily not just by bandits or mass killers on rampage ,but by security forces who are killing innocent people,where's the outrage ?
Pictured is a short list of known killings-
#3-Chima killed by police-in Port Harcourt
#4-Kolade killed by police-in Lagos
#6-Anita killed by police-Abuja
#7-Joseph killed by Army-Warri
#8-Tina killed by police-Lagos
Sad as these killing are,criminals and terrorist too continue to attack and kill innocent Nigerians, two of the recent and extremely shocking cases being
#1-Baraket,raped & killed-in Ibadan
#2-Uwa,raped & killed-in Benin
Yet all we have seen so far in Nigeria is small forms of outrage mainly online and some scaresly attended protest concernings the rapes & killing of these two young ladies and now these have sort of even died down already.
Least we forget boko haram-is still mass killing, pictured #5- Ms Hauwa an aide worker killed over a year ago.
For Nigerians living in Nigeria,we are largly disconnected from the issues of racisim,but not nepotism and it's evil twin tribalism. I have been lucky to live in a couple of states/cities in Nigeria.Lagos,Ibadan,Auchi,Brinin Kebbi,Warri,and last but not final yet,Port Harcourt.
I can say for most, if not all of the places I have lived ,there's both overt and; covert tribalism. Some I see, others I experienced ,cases in point.A Landlord in Lagos refusing to rent out an apartment because my middle name sounds like am from a particular tribe and he just won't rent his house out to anyone from that tribe. Another example,a friends who's father in-law initially refused to give his marital blessings,when he was about marrying his daughter - reason for refusal (my friend is from the Westen part of Nigeria - he is from the Eastern part of Nigeria)
We live and breath tribalism every day in Nigeria, and I dare say we also have institutionalised tribalism both in Public & Private institutions.
So while we can be rightly outraged and genuinely lend our voices and call for an end to racism,that many of us have never experienced, at least not directly.
How come there's this deafning silence and a living in "mass denial" concerning an even bigger, hateful and relevant issues -called Tribalism, Sectionalism and Nepotism,in a multi ethnic and religious nation like Nigeria? The world won't help us solve this self inflicted hate.
When and how will the world hear our own voices and join in calling for an end to mass killing by bandits, herdsmen, criminals and including extra judicial killings of innocent Nigerians by it's security forces? For now it seems we can't even find our voices,no thanks to tribalism.
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