Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has frowned at what he termed the spate of ethnic and religious prejudice in Nigeria, saying that it has deeply penetrated

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has frowned at what he termed the spate of ethnic and religious prejudice in Nigeria, saying that it has deeply penetrated the nation’s fabric especially in elections.

He spoke on Monday at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Jos, Plateau State at a lecture for Senior Executive Course 45.

The Vice President who delivered his lecture on: ‘Creating A Homeland for All: Nation-building, in a Diverse Democracy,’ said across the country, different ethnic groups are the subjects of popular stereotypes.

He said when such stereotypes were accepted as facts about people never met or interacted with, they shaped judgements about them, leading to prejudice.

“But when ethnic or religious prejudices are weaponised for political purposes, we are confronted with a lethal potentially destructive situation. Elections by their very nature tend to be divisive affairs. Partisan democratic competition compels us to align ourselves with the camps that most reflect our ideals and aspirations.

“In an election cycle in which the major contenders came from different ethno- regional zones, there was always a sense that the competition was going to be particularly intense. But at the same time, it would not be accurate to reduce the election to an ethnic census. As we saw, the contenders performed strongly in parts of the country other than their natal regions.

“Unfortunately, one of the unsavoury tendencies that was witnessed in this election cycle was the weaponization of ethnic, religious and sectional prejudices in ways that are damaging to social cohesion. Religion was quite clearly made an issue, and in some parts of the country political biases are introduced even between denominations of the same religion.

“In some cases ethnic profiling took place at polling booths. A popular female food blogger and Youtuber, sisi Yemi, a Yoruba woman, took to her verified Twitter handle to say ‘My husband and I were not allowed to vote, they said we look like Igbo people. I can’t believe this’.