Femi Adesina cautions Nigerians on hate speech after visit to Rwanda’s genocide site

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, on Thursday, urged Nigerians to stop fuelling division and chaos in the country with their hateful and incendiary speeches.

In a statement titled: “Warning Shots from Kigali,” the presidential aide recalled his experiences with the president in Rwanda, saying the impact of the 1994 genocide which killed several thousands of people was still visible in the East African nation.

He identified hate speech as one of the major causes of the pogrom in Rwanda.

Adesina, therefore, warned Nigerians against similar action, noting that it would lead to the total disintegration of the country.

He also accused religious bodies of encouraging violence in the country with their hateful sermons.

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He said: “We have always warned about the hate speech that is rife in our own country, Nigeria. You hear it from so-called bishops, imams, talk show hosts, phone-in programs on radio and television, anywhere and everywhere.

“I had written before that if Nigeria dies, hatred kills her. And our pastors would not be innocent nor the Imams, and everyone that trades in hateful language against the government and our ethnic groups.

“Those things piled up continuously, till it boils over and cascades on an entire country. The heinous crimes we see in the land today can’t be entirely divorced from hateful and incendiary speeches.

“Let us carry those bishops and pastors who spewed hatred from the pulpit and bring them to the genocide museum and the Imams too. Maybe ‘they will lend themselves some brain’. And the TV and the radio hosts, who make snide, hateful remarks and allow their guests to do the same. That was the same road Rwanda trod, and genocide was unleashed on the land.”

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