by Eze Eluchie
In all instances where it has occurred, mass atrocities, be it Genocides, mass Murders, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes do not just happen – they are usually a product of well articulated plans, engineered by vested interests, targeting specific victims with the tools for implementation of anticipated mayhem well oiled and readied for an opportunity to unroll mind-boggling violence and harm.
Often times, mass atrocities occur as a result of the lack of ability to act on identified tell-tale signals as they are occurring or deliberate turning of a blind-eye to what are obviously preparatory steps to a mass conflagration. In other words, all acts of mass atrocities are preventable!
From the buildup of anti-Semitism and extremist national fervor leading up to the Holocaust, to the importation of huge consignments of machetes (far and above what the country could have ever required for any legitimate domestic needs) into Rwanda prior to the vicious Rwandan genocide, effective interventions at this early stages when the preparatory groundwork to what would later serve as to depreciate the commonality of our humanity and as eternal shame on mankind could have been avoided and or prevented.
It is in the light of the foregoing that one must evaluate the recent call for the killing and dumping of any person of the Igbo ethnic nationality (and other non-indegenes) residing in Lagos State (southwestern Nigeria) who votes against the preferred candidature of the local monarch of Lagos, Mr. Rilwanu Akiolu. The brazen manner in which the threats to kill was pronounced, with Mr. Akiolu repeatedly emphasizing his willingness to carry out the threats by swearing to Allah (God in his Islamic faith) – see Video and Audio links below, underscores the need not to ever underestimate the potency and danger inherent in the threats. In the words of the monarch: "If any Igbo living in Lagos vote against my candidate, the APC's candidate, Ambode, he will die within 7 days and be buried inside this Lagoon".
Does the monarch have the capacity to execute what he is threatening? The unfortunate answer to this question is YES! Considering his role as ‘spiritual head’ of the original inhabitants of some parts of Lagos, some hundreds of thousands people under his authority have a natural inclination to put the wishes of their monarch into fruition. This is thus certainly not a threat that should be allowed to go unchallenged and unaccounted for.
There had been anticipation, prior to the just concluded Presidential elections in Nigeria that the fragile peace in Nigeria would have been adversely impacted following the outcome of the said Presidential elections. By a deft stroke of luck and happenstances, the concession of defeat by the incumbent (the first time ever in Nigeria’s history) served to diffuse tension and spare the polity of anticipated mayhem. The outright threats of genocide issued by Mr. Akiolu serves to put the country and the world at large on notice that prevention of mass atrocities in Nigeria is and ought to be a continuing vocation.
Will the domestic security agencies in Nigeria and the relevant international agencies charged with the prevention of mass atrocities merely wait for the commission of the acts threatened before taking remedial actions? Severally in the past, the world has delayed to act against threatened mass atrocities to the greater peril of the human race.
These threatened actions can be avoided. We need not wait again….
Often times, mass atrocities occur as a result of the lack of ability to act on identified tell-tale signals as they are occurring or deliberate turning of a blind-eye to what are obviously preparatory steps to a mass conflagration. In other words, all acts of mass atrocities are preventable!
From the buildup of anti-Semitism and extremist national fervor leading up to the Holocaust, to the importation of huge consignments of machetes (far and above what the country could have ever required for any legitimate domestic needs) into Rwanda prior to the vicious Rwandan genocide, effective interventions at this early stages when the preparatory groundwork to what would later serve as to depreciate the commonality of our humanity and as eternal shame on mankind could have been avoided and or prevented.
It is in the light of the foregoing that one must evaluate the recent call for the killing and dumping of any person of the Igbo ethnic nationality (and other non-indegenes) residing in Lagos State (southwestern Nigeria) who votes against the preferred candidature of the local monarch of Lagos, Mr. Rilwanu Akiolu. The brazen manner in which the threats to kill was pronounced, with Mr. Akiolu repeatedly emphasizing his willingness to carry out the threats by swearing to Allah (God in his Islamic faith) – see Video and Audio links below, underscores the need not to ever underestimate the potency and danger inherent in the threats. In the words of the monarch: "If any Igbo living in Lagos vote against my candidate, the APC's candidate, Ambode, he will die within 7 days and be buried inside this Lagoon".
Does the monarch have the capacity to execute what he is threatening? The unfortunate answer to this question is YES! Considering his role as ‘spiritual head’ of the original inhabitants of some parts of Lagos, some hundreds of thousands people under his authority have a natural inclination to put the wishes of their monarch into fruition. This is thus certainly not a threat that should be allowed to go unchallenged and unaccounted for.
There had been anticipation, prior to the just concluded Presidential elections in Nigeria that the fragile peace in Nigeria would have been adversely impacted following the outcome of the said Presidential elections. By a deft stroke of luck and happenstances, the concession of defeat by the incumbent (the first time ever in Nigeria’s history) served to diffuse tension and spare the polity of anticipated mayhem. The outright threats of genocide issued by Mr. Akiolu serves to put the country and the world at large on notice that prevention of mass atrocities in Nigeria is and ought to be a continuing vocation.
Will the domestic security agencies in Nigeria and the relevant international agencies charged with the prevention of mass atrocities merely wait for the commission of the acts threatened before taking remedial actions? Severally in the past, the world has delayed to act against threatened mass atrocities to the greater peril of the human race.
These threatened actions can be avoided. We need not wait again….
The Audio of Mr. Rilwanu Akiolu’s
threats of Genocide:
Picture: Monarch of Lagos, Mr. Rilwanu
Akiolu
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