By Sulaiman Aledeh
There is something far more dangerous than a gun.
It is an idea.
An idea repeated so often that it begins to sound like the truth. An idea whispered in homes, shouted at political rallies, amplified on the radio, circulated on WhatsApp, rewarded on social media and eventually accepted by society.
The idea that some human beings are worth less than others.
Lately, I have watched with a heavy heart as Nigerians casually describe entire ethnic groups in language that should trouble every decent conscience. One comment in particular has refused to leave my mind. It declared that if one encountered a member of a certain tribe and a snake at the same time, the person should be killed before the snake.
Read that again.
Not because of anything that individual had done.
Not because of any crime committed.
Simply because of the tribe into which they were born.
If that does not frighten us, perhaps we have stopped paying attention to history.
Before Rwanda descended into genocide in 1994, hatred did not begin with machetes. It began with language. It began with labels. It began with the systematic dehumanisation of fellow citizens. Tutsis were repeatedly referred to as inyenzi—”cockroaches.” Once people cease to be seen as human beings, violence becomes easier to justify.
In one hundred horrifying days, more than 800,000 lives were lost.
History is not merely something we read.
It is something we ignore at our own peril.
As a journalist, I have spent decades reporting on Nigeria. My work has taken me across communities, cultures and faiths. I have shared meals with strangers who became friends. I have been welcomed into homes by people who neither spoke my language nor worshipped the way I do. Some of the most generous people I have ever encountered came from places I had never visited before.
I have also experienced disappointment from people who looked like me, spoke my language, and shared my background.
That is why I reject, completely and without apology, the dangerous habit of judging millions of people by the actions of a few.
Character has no tribe.
Integrity has no religion.
