The senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Mr. Shehu Sani, has condemned last week's eruption of violence between the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups in Ile-Ife, Osun State. Mr. Sani's position was contained in a personally signed statement obtained by SaharaReporters.
According to Mr. Sani, ethnic violence constitutes a naked threat to national peace, cohesion, stability and democracy.
"It's most unfortunate that over a century since the amalgamation of the North and South of Nigeria and over five decades since independence, the nation's foundation is still being threatened by belligerent jingoism," said the politician.
He added that inter-ethnic violence is a raging fire that must be extinguished, adding that its promoters and executors are anarchists and ultra-nationalistic fascists.
Mr. Sani explained that the country's diversity should offer beauty rather provoke the ugliness of inter-ethnic war. He urged Nigerians to be tolerant, adding that it is curious that Nigerians, who were outraged by recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, are killing themselves in their own country.
"It is ironic and contradictory that the very nation united against xenophobia in South Africa is at war with itself in Ife. We cannot truly achieve a united country until we embrace the history and fate of our country as a nation of diversity," he stated.
Mr. Sani warned that symbols such as the national flag, national anthem and coat of arms cannot instill a sense of national unity without a moral and spiritual resolve of people to live together.
"When Hausa people are unsafe in Ife and Ibadan; when the Igbo are unsafe in Kano; when Yoruba are unsafe in Enugu, the need to reactivate the spirit of patriotism is now.
"The government of Osun should fully investigate the killings and violence," said the senator.
