Ethnic profiling is not the problem

FORMER governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State is the latest northern elite to condemn alleged ethnic profiling in the land following in the footsteps of other prominent northern leaders that had decried the persecution against his tribe over the past few weeks as insecurity rips the country apart.

Former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Atiku Abubakar, Bello Matawalle, Bala Muhammad and Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Gumi, have all warned against ethnic profiling that is cropping up because of media reports on insecurity caused by herdsmen. Kadaria Ahmed wrote her own jaundiced story of how the country treads on the cusp of destruction, speaking the mind of Northern hegemony.

Nigeria is yet to move past stupidities that had shaken confidence and dampened the hope of people.

As the nation juggles various existential challenges with each and every part of the country at loggerheads, the country seems caught in the scary crossroads of existence slipping through deep and cataclysmal division along ethnic and fault lines.

The 1994 Rwanda genocide may readily come to mind but history revealed the war and the death toll were not the reckless ethnic profiling that northern elites are forcing down our throats.

This ‘we’ versus ‘them’ syndrome is the first problem the country is yet to resolve, this dichotomy has created in Nigeria a country of two entities; the North and South. With is divisions come mutual suspicion and distrust. While this may be deeply rooted in both pre and early Independence, the crux of this is that, the crop of leaders after the first republic abruptly ended has not shown commitment to cast net of safety across the country’s nook and cranny.

This, experts agreed is the root cause of tension coursing through the country now.

There is no one size that fits all solutions to our myriads of challenges, but we can start by healing our past trauma, especially the aftermath of that civil war and build a country on equal opportunity, where every component part will feel the touch and presence of government.

Muftau Gbadegesin

[email protected]

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