BIAFRA: WHAT IS HATE SPEECH IN NIGERIA?

Authored by Ifeanyi Chijioke For (TBP)

25 August 2017

“Hausa man will not speak love of Igbo or Yoruba and neither will Igbo speak love of Hausa; since my birth, I was meant to understand that Aboki will slit my throat how they did with Aguinyi and kill me how they killed my kind in 1967. Over my dead body will I love Aboki and if Aboki loves me; I will run and forget my shoes. In Nigeria; hate speech is part of our existence or we continue to lie to ourselves but any day we speak truth, in one way or another, you find out it is hate speech because Nigeria was founded on hatred. The only way to control hate speech is to urge everybody to start or continue to live in self-denial or self-deceit. If people must live in truth and speak truth; it would always amount to hate speech and for people like us, we shall continue to make hate speech because in Nigeria, hate speech is truth”

Few days ago; the vice president of Nigeria suddenly woke up and said that hate speech is now treason or was it murder? He further said that there would be a special court to take care of those found guilty of hate speech. I have been on homework; browsing and recalling; I have been trying to answer the question what is hate speech in Nigeria

The senate did not debate neither did the house of representative get the copy of to-be-a-law order; it was an executive order coming from the executive president of Nigeria. I am often tired with everything about Nigeria; they said they are learning but can never graduate from the school of democracy. Don’t be surprised that I may be arrested for questioning; or calling Muhammadu Buhari a religious bigot or even the father of nepotism

They want us to keep quite because it seems our voices have become weapons; thank God for social media, without it, who would hear our voices, not even their newspapers will give us chance to be heard. They don’t play with Nigerian news platforms; they rush down to their offices and attractively pay them for their good jobs and perceived bad jobs are dropped before arriving the editor’s desk.

Our criticisms are the bad jobs; critics are the hate speech makers, hate speech is simply all these things we say to make them wake up, when they refuse to wake up, they are threatened with revolution and that make them uncomfortable. Hate speech is the fact that we go about singing the songs of Buhari’s nepotism and pushing him to repent; but because he wouldn’t repent, they are threatened with secession and they tag us hate speech makers. They want a haven and that is what they are pushing with their hate speech patriotism; they can go to hell because we will not stop- how many people Buhari go kill?

Nigeria itself was founded on hatred, do you doubt me? Okay, do you know that lord Lugard the creator/founder of Nigeria after assessing his creation said that his creation is like oil and water that cannot mix? In a simple term; he told us that Nigeria cannot gel or co-exist because there is a force opposing it, that force is the force of hatred. The force that cannot make oil and water mix is literary the force of hatred.

Do you need more? Since 1914 amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorate what are the founding fathers of Nigeria saying? Do you know what Northernization is? Do you know the mere geographical expression phrase? Do you know Alaba? Do you know pogrom? Do you know counter coup d’état? Do you know Sharia law? Do you know that Islamic religion itself heaps hatred on Christian religion? Do you know that infidel as Christians are addressed by Koran is hate speech? Do you know that marginalization is hatred? Do you even know that 1999 constitution of Nigeria is hate speech? We are just in the ocean of hatred and not even a special court will stop it; who is Buhari and Osibanjo to stop us from what is embedded in our existence.

What even brought about the issue of hate speech? We are Nigerians but don’t know our history; why won’t they properly teach us history in the university? Why won’t they tell us the history of the hatred they meted on their citizens in 1967? Why won’t they tell us the history of the pogroms perpetrated by the Northern barbarians? Why won’t they tell us the history of why an Eastern man must travel 800 kilometers to clear his goods when a river is at his backyard? Why won’t they tell us the history of the Fulanis that rape and kill us on daily basis? Why won’t they tell us the history of how Nigeria was formed? Why won’t they open up and list their atrocities that we may learn to forgive and forget and carry on? They are all heartless; if hate speech is saying everything they did and doing, we will continue to live on hate speech?

I understand perfectly that when Nigerian history is made open; people would negatively react- when you say what is happening or what happened, it automatically migrates to hate speech because retaliatory speech against hatred is yet all about hatred. My problem is the fact that Nigerian leaders have refused to admit that Nigeria is hate and a Nigerian is embodiment of hatred and when he speaks, he speaks hate. Buhari came back from London and he broadcasted hate; there is no way we can stop hate speech unless we fail to speak from the heart.

Hausa man will not speak love of Igbo or Yoruba and neither will Igbo speak love of Hausa; since my birth, I was meant to understand that Aboki will slit my throat how they did with Aguinyi and kill me how they killed my kind in 1967. Over my dead body will I love Aboki and if Aboki loves me; I will run and forget my shoes. In Nigeria; hate speech is part of our existence or we continue to lie to ourselves but any day we speak truth, in one way or another, you find out it is hate speech because Nigeria was founded on hatred. The only way to control hate speech is to urge everybody to start or continue to live in self-denial or self-deceit. If people must live in truth and speak truth; it would always amount to hate speech and for people like us, we shall continue to make hate speech because in Nigeria, hate speech is truth.