Yesterday, a team member reported a discussion she had with an old friend concerning the elections and the friend pointed out that she (the friend) had a deep hatred for another tribe and for that reason would never give her vote even if the other candidate were the most credible, she claimed she would rather be loyal first to her tribe than to her responsibility to nation building, and this got me thinking, when would we finally outgrow ethnocentrism?
The 11th edition of Search Inwards magazine took a delve into ethnocentrism, and the cover story referred to it as an evil threatening to swallow a nation, and I completely agree, how many times have we as individuals turned away from assisting other people simply because they were not of the same ethnic groups as ourselves or they do not speak the same language as we do? I like to think that being born into a particular tribe or being raised in a particular geographical location does not in anyway determine who we truly are.
I was born in Niger state, but I spent my childhood in Lagos state having left my father’s house for my sister’ at the young age of 2, I learnt to accept people first for who they are and not about where they come from, my childhood friends were from a different tribe from myself and we loved each other like a family, we played together, ate together, even slept on the same bed occasionally and I loved every bit of it.
My secondary school was also another opportunity to meet with people from different tribes as I attended a Unity school, and truly, there was Unity but today, I see a lot of young people championing ethnic causes at the expense of the unity of the nation, a lot of these young ones do not even know the history of our country but are first to point fingers at another tribe.
There is no such thing as a criminal tribe, for centuries, criminals have come from different tribes and upbringings, it does not make a tribe more criminal than the other, we have heard of unknown gun men in the east, bandits in the north, ritualist and kidnappers in the south but this does mean that every one is the same, so why then do we jump into conclusions?
I believe that a heart that had known love finds it easy to love others, a heart that knows forgiveness finds it easy to let go a grudge, a person who knows history is careful not to allow the mistakes of the past become their present hour reality.
Elections are here again; can we put aside ethno and religiocentrism, and together make a choice that will change the present trajectory of our nation?
