Forgiveness thrust upon Igbo in Lagos

SIR: Nigerians recently witnessed what may pass as the most divisive and hate-filled electioneering season during the Presidential/National Assembly and Governorship/House of Assembly elections, of 2023. No doubt, there were past cases of rigging and ballot snatching, but this year’s display was of a different scale.

The ugly high point was the scandalous and despicable introduction of ethnic bigotry and xenophobic campaigns. The Igbo were accused of meddling in the political affairs of Lagos State; yet the accusers never complained when the same Igbo and non-indigenes joined to buoy the economy and cosmopolitan status of Lagos State, making it the 4th largest economy in Africa.

Now that elections are over, this writer believes it is time for post mortem analysis and search for genuine healing over the land of Lagos State and Nigeria. There must have been deep-seated disappointments, and rude shock to a ‘new reality’; that Nigeria is no longer one, and that being a citizen of Nigeria does not automatically grant you free passage and participation in the civic affairs of your place of residence, even if you were born, raised, and lived there all your life. It was a new definition of Nigerian citizenship that happened in Lagos State recently as a result of the recent elections.

While we wait for Nigeria as a country to address the issue of state of origin, state of residence and general citizenship questions, fellow Nigerians must find civilized, noble harmonious ways of living together and interacting with each other.

It is for this reason that Igbo and non-indigenes in Lagos State must find it in their hearts to forgive these expressed negative sentiments by some Yoruba. This forgiveness should come because it is spiritually healthy to forgive whenever you were hurt by another.

Mahatma Ghandi was the one who left us with the simple statement that “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”  ‘Weak’ here is meant to include the ignorant, the vindictive and insecure persons who fail to understand that what you do to another is like sowing a spiritual seed into the soil of creation, and that in due season such seeds must germinate, bring forth fruits for harvests, and the sower must reap from the harvests.

For the elevated minds, every happening should be seen as new avenues for bringing forth new growth dynamics and development. At the end of the day, as long as the motive is pure and noble, the outcome would bring about blessings.
IkeChukwu Unegbe.