The division in country across primordial lines is fast becoming an issue as hate speeches have become the order of the day.
Atiku Abubakar
Former Vice President and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Atiku Abubakar has asked the National Assembly to replace state of origin with state of residency in the ongoing constitutional amendment as a way of addressing hate speeches and other quit notice on Nigerians in their places of residence.
In a statement entitled: “An eye for an eye will leave Nigeria blind”, the former vice president condemned the quit notice by a coalition of Niger Delta agitators on northerners and Yoruba in the Niger Delta region to vacate the area.
He, however, hailed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for sanctioning radio stations that aired the anti-Igbo song and embarking on broadcasting hate speeches.
He said: “Again, it has sadly come to my attention that there has been a counter quit notice issued in reaction to the unfortunate initial notices issued by some misguided youths in July of this year.
“Just as I strongly condemned the quit notice on people of the Igbo ethnic stock living in Northern Nigeria and the counter quit notices that ensued, I also vehemently condemn the retaliatory quit notice given by certain elements in other parts of Nigeria to persons of other origins be they Northern, Yoruba or any other ethnic grouping within our nation.
“First and foremost, it is a fallacy to believe that there are people of Northern or Southern origin. Nigeria only has people of one origin. We are all of Nigerian origin and as Nigerians, we must be pragmatic enough to realise the obvious truth that an eye for an eye will leave Nigeria blind.
“Let me at this juncture remind these ‘quit noticers’ that when brothers fight to the death over a domestic dispute, it is their neighbours that eventually end up inheriting their father’s property.”