*Cautions fellow Southerners against ethnic profiling, urges them to make peace
More Nigerians, realising the evils inherent in tribal or racist profiling, have been coming out to do what they believe media practitioners fail to do: educating fellow citizens on the strength in their diversity and enlightenment on many good in choosing peace over war.
One of them, essentially a Southerner, from the tribe where tribal hate thrives more, Chigozirim Emeakayi, released an article through which he not only exposed how Southerners have done evils to Northerners, which they cannot tolerate to be done to them.
Emeakayi spoke at a time one other Nigerian argued that, “You cannot say because you have nothing to balance a story from your side of the tribes deliberately hide the truth of evil you see one does to other. I make bold to say that Northerners are the most loving and accommodating tribesmen in Nigeria and no administration has built Nigeria more except under a Northern President or Head of State. If you dispute this, counter me with facts.”
Emeakayi made profoundly emotion-laden submissions about why his fellow Southerners should learn lessons from the quality of Northerners as the highest stakeholders in peace making project for the building of greater Nation of Nigeria and how their quietness, while their people are being killed in and evicted nonstopping from the South, should not be taken for granted as weakness.
“In the past two days, they have raised funds for their evicted people from the South to be transported back to the North but they have not evicted anybody from the North.
“In the past two days, they have buried their people over there in the South, but no Southerner has been buried in the North over tribal attacks.
“Between 2018 and 2019, huge number of kidnapped kids from the North were found in Southeast, you all can bear me witness that kids were kidnapped from Kano and Kaduna and then sold in Anambra and Imo States, yet these Northerners kept quiet,” he told his fellow Southerners.
Emeakayi urged all to “be calming down, no one is worst than the other, we all are humans and we are prone to making mistakes in life,” adding that despite the evil treatment meted to the Northerners in the South, the Northerners treat them with goodness in their own North not because they don’t know what goes on but because they understand meaning of peace to achieving a great nation.
“They have been dared, abused, attacked, harassed, and demonised, yet they pretend as if they don’t watch the news. Nope, these Northerners watch the news more than us the Southerners.
“They understand the consequences of war or tribal conflict, the Igbos and Yorubas living with them have been classified as their fellow Citizens, and they treat us right in the North because they understand the meaning of PEACE.
“They have nothing to loose if this tribal conflict breaks out, but still they are as calm as the lakes in the desert.”
He warned, “I belive there is a limit to everything and everyone has a price, there is a limit to their Patience, endurance and understanding, I just hope we don’t cross those limits and stop this madness.
“Let the recent crisis that has happened in this Country teach us that not all Notherners are evil, not all Yorubas are evil and not all Igbos are evil.
“Racial profiling must stop, we must fight the crime and leave the Tribe, we must prosecute the criminal and leave his or her brothers out of it.
“Value the peace of mind you have today, don’t throw that privilege away because of pride and ignorance. Let love lead. #stopkillingNortherners,” Chigozirim Emeakayi said.
Aside Emeakayi, some other Nigerians including Muslim Media Network Group, Muslim Rights Concern and individuals such as Bashir Kabir have been published warning members of the society against consequences of ethnic profiling.
The DEFENDER’s investigations revealed that neither Fulani or Hausa members of the society, heavily vilified and demonized by Southern Nigerians, have ever been the first to start a crisis.
A source said, “Go and check your records of any communal or religious crisis in Nigeria, particularly since return of democracy in 1999, you will not see where Fulani, Hausa or Muslims were the first to start. What you find is either defence or revenge which they call reprisals. Unfortunately, nobody cries for and over atrocities done to these Fulani, Hausa and Muslims in Nigeria. Because those that do the atrocities have always easily bought the media over for three reasons: ethnicity, Nigerian media is South concentrated; religion, Nigerian media is dominated by Christian journalists; and money, which they get locally and international and only their own account;of happenings is adjudged the truth.
“And I repeat those who do atrocities against Northerners particularly Hausa-Fulani are the loudest because you the media people choose to make things look like they look. Whereas no Muslim country or local individual helps Muslim journalists with finances so they can be able to lead in responsible journalism that they have opportunity of being taught by Allah in the Qur’an. Northerners and Muslims, the most in need of media support, are the worst in negligence of media needs. So we are in dilemma but we stand on the treshhold of truth and hope. Allah has a way of helping the cow without a tail to drive away flies disturbing its peace.
“It may interest you to know that even when some Nigerians see clearly media organisations and practitioners that publish and report falsehood atrociously, tomorrow they still take their reports and believe in them. Up till today, no Nigerian has asked PUNCH: ‘Where did you see 8 Christians burnt to death in Zamfara, for which Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) nearly collapsed the system under Governor AbdulAziz Yari?
“No one has asked and even the paper arrongantly refuses to admit its evil contribution to destabilisation of the country and you continue to take it seriously. Same ChannelsTV and other electronic stations because whose reports many lives of civilians, soldiers and policemen were lost in October 2020 during #EndSARS protest and some people would still sit down and make them ‘Best Television Station of the Year’. How did they arrive at that?” He cried out aloud.
He however asked the Northern elites and Muslims in Nigeria to take responsibility for evil done against them because “their continued patronage of those who publish, report and broadcast falsehoods, fake news and hate speech against their tribe and religion by way of adverts, reading, listening and usage as references is approval of the atrocities.”
