 All right, thanks for staying with us now, referencing politics of ethnicity in Nigeria, the way forward by Collins G Adeonju. In Nigeria today, tribalism has been elevated to dominate national discourse, controls how people think and talk, and determines what they oppose or support. It is promoted by the political elites embraced by the young and the old, passed from generation to generation and even has base in the constitution. Ethnicity has played manifesting roles in Nigerian politics since the pre-colonial era and is arguably one of the important causes of conflict and overall obstacle to economic development of the country. Now a lot has happened during this election season and today we're asking, right, how can we heal from the tribal division that, you know, that we all witness. Now please, let's hear what you have to say. Remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to the red one, 8034663. You can also tweet at us at Weshaw Afqaw and with the hashtag Weshaw. All right, so I mean this conversation, I don't even know where to start from because I saw somebody talking about and that after now they should go and tell parents to start raising their children not to do inter-tribal marriages. You know, there were just so many things that came out of this election. I didn't understand how bad we have become as a people or just seeing what was in the content of the hearts of people. It was really bad. Honestly, my sister blocked people, unfollowed people. I said, so how many can I block? How many can I unfollow? Right? It's just a sad situation that, and where we are today, the most interesting thing is that the elite, they don't know tribe. They don't know all of these divisions, but they are the ones that actually propagate it and the people that are the drivers of this tribalism and all of that, they are at the grassroot. A rich man does not have, oh, this one is Ibo, don't do business with it. If that person would bring money to his, he would collect the money and they would continue. But you see, it is sad thing is that it is the ignorant and the poor people right that continue to fight these battles, continue to fuel these things while these people are just throwing the money at them. They keep on fanning the flames of tribalism and all of that and see where we are today. What happened on Saturday? I think I have been so speechless. I didn't even know what to say. That somebody will come to a polling unit, they will profile you based on your tribe and say, because of this tribe, you cannot vote. They physically assault, they physically attack. I feel, and I said this yesterday on the show, the only way we can move forward, the person in charge of Lagos state, I'm not talking about other states because I don't know about the tribal whatever that happened in other states, but in Lagos state, the only way we can move forward, we have to hear from the governor himself, right? Because I don't even know how now people can look at each other and not be worried that would you harm me tomorrow, would you know harm me and all of that because there was genuine fear in the hearts of people. People were afraid to come out, people were afraid to do anything. You will not hear things like, oh, our Chinadu Lele, the Chinadu are much here. I was hearing all sorts of comments and I was then wondering how did we get to where we are today? And if we want to even find the solution, where do we start from? Let me come to you Isi, then I'll come back to the studio. What's that you want, man? That is, how do we, how do we rise above this? How do we heal? Is a, is a crucial question that we need to answer. And all I can think of is there was a narrative that was, you know, thrown at us as a people. And that narrative was the tribal card and we actually invited, we took it, hook, line and sinker and we actually ran with it to the extent that the neighbor that we, we drank tea with, the neighbor that we sat with, the neighbor that we went for the ladies dedication became an enemy to us because of election and politics. You know, there have been different things that we've said earlier and we have, we have, we have three things that actually causes a ruckus or disagreement. One is politics. The other is race. And the last one is religion. We have been able to merge all three of these things together. The race card was playing with us with the tribal card. We've been able to merge religion. We've been able to merge what's called tribes. We've been able to also merge the politics and cause so much disunity in the system. The only thing that can change this narrative now is those that get it to us are able to take it back. And this is where the government actually comes in. How we started was we do not like the next person. These people are coming in to take over this situation. They're coming in to take over this environment. I don't want to call names, but if the government plays the role of changing the mindset of the people, working on that dissignness that is in the system currently and making it, making people understand that it is not what we think it is. I'm not writing on it and changing the narrative that, oh, we are one and there is unity in this country. That is the first step to our healing process. Alright, so let me come back. The mindset needs to be changed. Absolutely. Let me come back to the studio and I want to hear your thoughts, NJ. So for me, Nigeria is a country that has well over about 371 or so tribes and about 250 ethnic groups. That's what I'm saying. We are very diverse in religion, culture, a whole lot of things, but we've chosen to come together as a nation. Now, playing those cards just like EC said, those are the three cards that are played for us in this country every time. And even in Africa, generally, is always religion, religion, tribe, and, you know, authorities. So at the end of the day, so what happened on Saturday, in my opinion, just showed how far racism and tribalism has gone, like how deep it has eaten into the roots. And we have been pretending for a long time that we love our neighbor until just a small thing, just a small spark. And the whole country went off in flames and we could see it in every part. So it now became a thing. You know, even when it came to the parties, you know, there were, you know, all the parties started forgetting that different members of different ethnic groups joined different parties. But all of a sudden, it became a play of tribalism. This group is against this group. These ones that, and these are the things that cause divide within the country. So in order just to wrap it, I would say that if there's anything that we need to do as a country, is to reorientate ourselves continuously and intentionally, that if we, and to see ourselves that if we do want and do want to possess that one Nigeria kind of unity, where we all come together and see ourselves as human beings first, Nigerians second, and then forgetting all this tribal, you know, you're from the East, you're from the West, and seeing it, seeing all of us just come together in order to, for one aim, and that aim is to improve the country. Because really, one ethnic group can live without the other. The Eastern part of Nigeria is known for different things. You know, different trades. The West end, the Northern part of Nigeria is known for different trades. So everyone has their own specialty. They have something unique at the beginning. Yes. And that is the reason why we decided to come together. So in trying to divide us when it comes to politics, we should remember and bear in mind that after politics, there's still life. So because now, how do you look at someone who you clearly know that during the electoral, you know, campaign and elections had strong, you know, promoters of this tribalism? How do you look at them? And it also goes to show, like Uwa said, is the elite. Because I've been in the midst of certain conversations and they throw it up. And they keep throwing it up because they know that when they throw it up that much, you don't have any other thing you are thinking about. When you go outside the country, they have food, clothing, shelter. So they have time to love their country. But in this country, there's a lot of poverty. So people don't, they would buy whatever you know you're feeding me. So what you say is king. And it's quite pathetic. It's a sorry case. And if we do not do something about it, this is one thing that will surely destroy Nigeria. Surely. We hope not. Mary, your thoughts. I really have to say. But I think we have to start looking past it. Looking past it in the sense that the change that we want comes from us in as much as we have family, friends with different political views. We've seen people out there. To us, it might be nonsense to them. It seems like they're making sense. But love love heals. And if you can go past that, it's going to be hard because like I have someone who on Instagram and I've just been asking myself, is there a reason why you haven't blocked this guy? Because everything he's my age mate, everything he says is surely like you think that this is someone, you know, maybe from my mother's generation. So I can say, oh, he's older or something. And like it doesn't just make sense to me. But I've now come into understand that I have a perspective. You as an individual, you have a perspective. Your experiences have formed your perspective. And the tribalism matter is deeply rooted. I guess I'd comment from my mom like they were doing an election in church. And she said, I know they won't pick me. It's evil. It's an evil thing. Like she said it casually. She said it's so innocent. Like she didn't really mean anything. But it's something that that she, you know, she has faced and she's just that's what it is. And I'm thinking this is the root of where it starts. You know, you go to church and it feels like, you know, different ethnic groups have formed a community. But what we can do is we are now enlightened. Yes, social media has helped us. If we decide the same way we said, let's end brutality, the same way we can stand as a people to say, we want these tribalism to stop. It is going to be very hard. But the more we focus on love, because I'm going to come at it from a spiritual point of view, if someone drops dead, you're not thinking where is this person from? Whoever it is, even if the person has hurt you, you feel really, really bad because that's a life that has gone. We have one being whether Muslim, whether it is everybody knows that there's something that controls the world. And so therefore if we can focus on that to say, let's try a spread love. It comes from when you hear these hateful, spiteful comments, either you choose to ignore or you pass a love comment, you know, to just say, I don't understand why you think this way. But that's fine. This is your perspective. It's okay. I as a citizen, I see you as a human being. I recognize your identity as a human being. And I would respect you for that. We can do it. It's going to be tough, I must say. But we that were enlightened, let's try. If you spread love, I believe it would work. I can feel your passion. Ladies and gentlemen, we're discussing the election aftermath. We're asking how do we deal from or how do we heal rather from the tribal division? Now please let's hear what you have. So remember, and join the conversation. Send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 0818 038 4663. You can also tweet at us at we should have come on with the hashtag we show. Now our phone line is now open. The number to call is 070 2500 7749. Remember to roll, turn off the volume of whatever device you're watching us from and so we can hear ourselves. You know, I was asking innocently because Mary is Mary on my Williams. I don't know where she's from. I don't think I've ever used tribe as a criteria to deal with people, right? So where are you from Mary? I don't know. I'm being serious. I don't know where you're from. I'm from Delta Oh, okay. So, so when we were talking about love, it's so sweet and so whatever. But you see, I think where we are right now, if empathy cannot be drawn right from the situation, loss can be made, right? Lost can be made that ensures that there are penalties when anything like hate speech or whatever or tribal bigotry is exhibited. There are laws that would now say, you know what? You will go to jail or you, you know, something. Now, two things. Were there mistakes that were made in the Lagos campaign by other opposing parties? Yes. Because statements like Lagos is a no man's land is a wrong statement to make. Because guess what? You are not being fair to the owners of Lagos. So that was a mistake that was made. But guess what? That was the same thing that was used to incite more of that tribal was called bigotry that happened. You want to sit down, they come and take your land away from you. They come and take your home away from me. They come into your house and steal from you. So it was because of that statement. So, you know, going forward, we need to tread carefully. When you say Lagos is a no man's land, that's wrong. They are indigents of Lagos. Even though Lagos has been the most liberal state in the whole of Nigeria, you can't go to the east to say you want to go and run for office as a non, it's not possible. There are some places you cannot go to and buy land. You can't go to the north, you know, and say you want to run for office. Where do you come from? Do you understand? There are some, so if you talk about liberality, right, Lagos has been very liberal, you know, and it's almost like, okay, I think now because they give everybody free hand. Now this free hand, you can't carry and rub paper for my eye. So, and guess what? The politicians understood that if they played that card, it to catch fire. And that was what just played out. So I mean, when we want to evaluate things, let's say the mistakes these people made, you understand, and so that we are able to trace it down to the root cause and solve the problem and nip it on the board. So we are talking about love. Love is good. But you see, beyond love, we have to inside, I mean, start to create laws, policies, all the lawmakers that would create laws that says anybody that is, you know, so if you go and put out a tweet, or you put out a post that, you know, look at the guy that put out a post. I can't even mention that post, you know, when he was talking about in the history of whatever this is really last time the ebos would interfere, that is very insightful. Do you understand? So if we start to know those kinds of people, we just catch them and use them as scapegoats, then you'll know that, yes, you know, so those kinds of things, let us be careful in in those kind of statements. But I think we have our first caller for the evening, Benga from Lagos. Hi, good evening. Good evening. I am not an avid because I go around and I see things that our friends from the studies say, I understand now about this field now, even as a Yobar guy, I feel so terrible about it. But I didn't understand one thing. Before the politics thing, before these old election things started, I don't think there was a time, maybe a few months back, or yeah, that Yobar guy looked at his evil friend and started to abuse him. And I noticed on Sunday, there was an election in BGC. I didn't see anybody prevent anyone from voting. So we should be able to identify where these things are coming from, the kind of people that are being used. The normal guy, the normal Yobar guy has plenty of evil friends. Look, like he said, the Yobar's best friend in Nigeria, the Yobars, they might not like to hear that. Because we, Yobars are so loving and so kind to everybody. I see Yobar guy, if you are Yobar person and Yobar person and Yobar guy unjustly, I will fight you. Because it's foremost a human being like you. And I think that's what Yobar people stand for. But when it comes to politics, these guys will bring up these ethnic hearts every now and then. So let our friends from the Saudis understand. Now it's just politics. But you see, that politics, wait, will they talk now? It ain't done damage a lot of things. But Mary, you wanted to respond to something. I'll come to you soon. Even the lawmakers that were saying are there for us. What I'm trying to say is we can't wait. So what if the laws never come? What if the laws never come? Are we going to continue to live in chaos? The chain that we want starts from you and I. We're working together. The three of us were not from the same place, but we're able to work together. So in your own little small community, we can start it up. We can keep promoting it. Oh, let's not, you know, give reasons, give people reasons. I don't think a poor, maybe you're a bad person. If an evil person gives that man now money or like helps him in a situation, I don't think that person will go back home and still be shouting, whatever, like tribalism. But definitely when politics comes into play, they can play on such people because they're ignorant. They don't know. See, okay, so let me explain how I think I see these things. As simple as you are feeling a form, they should take out that part that says your ethnic, what's it called? What local government are you from? What ethnic, whatever are you from? Just ask for where you live. Your address is okay. Do you understand? So because you see, as long as for every time you want to deal with anything like maybe government forms and you keep on, you keep on reminding of your state of origin, you keep on reminding of your whatever, it plays back. So I mean, yesterday when we were talking, it just occurred to me that, me that love to do work, charity work and all of that, you know. So tomorrow if I decide to say, okay, oh, I think I want to move my charity to this region, you know, nobody would even recognize what it is that I'm doing. Even though I'm not doing it for recognition, but I'm just saying to you that it's almost looking like, please, anything you want to do that is good, just go take it to your home. And it shouldn't be. Because it won't last. Let me take Charles some protocols. Hi, good evening. We are good though, we thank the Lord. People. the the the the the the Absolutely. And I agree with you, because there are notable people that have gone online to tweet or put out posts on that tribal big country, none of them have been arrested by DSS. All the presidents elect, the governors elect, most of them, none of them have come out to strongly condemn it. Do you understand? So it's just a Nigeria problem. It's plenty. You see, let me come to you. Well, it is modern English language. So I don't even know where to start again. But the key thing for me is another angle we can actually look at this problem. Another way we can actually learn to heal and change the mindset of people is via education. I am a lover, a fan of education, as you know. And the best way we can actually do this is to catch them young. You know, we had a show on this a few years ago or some years back and two years actually. And we talked about orientating the mindset of the younger generation. How do we do this? By inculcating the values that we really want them to have. If we start from this angle, I don't want to say it as an utopian. I don't want to believe that it can be an utopian thought, because it's quite possible. We just, we got here by people feeding us with a particular narrative. It's all about the narrative for me. We got here by the number of people, by a set of people feeding us a particular narrative. And that narrative has hit into the society in so many ways in diverse forms that it has read the different forms that we cannot even know where to cut it from, because we will hurt ourselves in the process. So we need to look at what, like Mary said, we need to look at what we can do for ourselves. And that is true love. Absolutely. We have spread so much hate in the system. I get you. We have spread so much hate in the system. Nigerians, we used to be jolly good fellows. We just like to have fun. We just like to, you know, go out and have a good, a jolly good time. But now all we are thinking of is survival. And when you are on that survival mode, your temper is short. Anything can just trigger it. And anger is another thing. It just goes off radar. So yes, I agree with Mary. Love is crucial and critical at this point in time for us to move forward. Laws might not take us there, because we have laws already on ground. And we haven't gotten what we've asked for. They've not listened to us when we called them to order as well. This is not about the laws. It is about implementing those laws. And enforcement. Enforcement. Do you understand? That's my problem. We all know that it's about enforcement. So the law is not what we need. It's what we can do for ourselves. There was something that was the assassinated president that he said in America. He said, think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. It all starts with us. We have to take that bold step, make that move. And maybe somewhere along the line, it will cause a ripple in that. Okay, let us take comments from our colleagues. Arrest my staff. Thank you. Let's take comments. And no fish out, because this is all not it. Love we walk, but you see, laws we also walk. If I take you to jail, you see somebody say go to jail. Are you going to raise a petition? We've raised a petition tirelessly. Continue. Take your message. Don't face me this minute. I'm not the cause of your problem. Hi, ladies. With the precedent set last Saturday, the ruling government has lost the effron tree to correct any ills in the society because they allowed impunity to fester to the point of depriving the citizens of their legitimate right to vote. They lost any shade of authority to correct anyone for wrongdoing. And that is tantamount to anarchy. Absolutely. How ridiculous can we be as a people? Sorry, how ridiculous can we as a people reject the very thing that makes the most developed countries brilliant enough for developing countries to keep coping in any way and every way? Would people jump back to those countries if they behaved as tribalists? A lot of people are racist. I mean, these things is not actually common to just Nigerians. I mean, South Africa, there was xenophobia, even in Ghana at some point. I mean, there is racism everywhere, right? So I don't know. There are histories, past histories of even in Rwanda, the Houthis and the Houthis. So they have all of those things happening. But the truth is that, you know, what was just shocking to most of us is that in this present age and time when we've seen how much those kinds of incitement can actually... How far they can go. How far it can go. The kind of effect it can have on... I mean, it's sad. It's sad. What do you say to people that have inter-tribal marriages? I am Edo. I'm married to... What's it called? Isi is Edo. She's married to Ibu. I'm married to Ibu. You understand? You have children. You have children from... So where do we go to? Do you get? It doesn't make any sense. Absolutely. Let's take more comments. Good evening, my dear beautiful sisters of ways. Election after mass. How can we heal from tribal division? My dear beautiful sister, Isi made two points. Firstly, she said that people will move around with who claim to be our best friends will end up being our worst enemies, which is right. Secondly, she said the only way to be healed from tribalism is to change our mindset and have total understanding amongst ourselves, which I agree. And she said that if we depend on tribalism, we will wake up home morning and hear that Nigeria is destroyed. She is not far from the truth. Let us put aside tribalism to move forward. My name is Daniel Edo with regular fan. Go ahead, Isi. All right. This is from the gift of Paul. And she says, good evening, ladies. The whole situation is so depressing. This way forward is for us as a citizen to understand that politicians are only manipulating us to achieve their ambitions, because of our lack of empathy, oneness, and awareness. She said it all. Thank you. Do you think coming from Kule Lawal said that he has always believed or stood for as a proponent of states of residence over states of origin to help curb the ethnic bias within the average Nigerian DNA. Not only would it curb that, it would also give every Nigerian a stake in any part of Nigeria. Absolutely. You want to feel any form, they tell you state of origin. What is that for, for goodness sake? Just tell me, where are you resident? You feel the form, I don't know what you're saying. Maybe what country? I mean, all this one that you're saying. Somebody says on this issue, I would blame media houses like Klos TV, Arise TV, Channels TV, AIT and TVC. You all encourage the division by inviting people who are divisive, devices to your state. That's not it. You understand? You cannot blame me. You blame me on poverty. You understand? You blame me, because let me tell you something. The elite people, there's no trouble anything around them. But you see, because poverty has been weaponized, you can tell a poor man to do anything and he will do it. So poverty ignores, because what Isi said about education is very key. Ignorance and poverty, they are the two major fuelers of all of these things. So we have to start deliberately. You know, they will try Mary's method and try to see if you can infuse love. But me, I want people to start going to jail. I want people to start, you know, when they give them sentences, when they pen out his for that. You will stop it. You'll be very careful before you put out a statement on that note. Let it be held accountable. Absolutely. Thank you Isi. Thank you, NJ. Thank you, Mary. I will love you, don't worry. I love you. We'll be back. Spread love. Spread love. We should spread love, right? Before we go, Mary says we should spread love. I love you. You know? And let's forgive each other and let's move on, please. Yes, forgive. It's not really nice what is happening out there. So please follow us on all our engagements, on social media, like, share, invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation. If you missed our quote for today, here it is again. Where's my quote? Okay, so it says, when people have tried everything and have discovered that nothing works, they would tend to revert to what they know best, which is, which will often be tribe, the totem, and the taboo. I mean, we didn't even touch on totem and taboo, but hey, we'll talk more on this conversation. Hopefully, we'll bring in more experts or so to talk to us. But please, let's spread love. Honestly, let's spread love. I know that the love, but I also want, you know, people to go to jail. We'll see you guys tomorrow at 8 p.m. Also bring another great conversation to your screen. Enjoy.