Nigeria’s works and housing minister, Babatunde Fashola, says the divisive and ethnic dog whistling that characterised the last general election in Lagos state is a global scourge.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV on Sunday, the former Lagos governor said that identity politics is not peculiar to Lagos or Nigeria, adding that people assert their ethnic superiority and influence to gain power.
The election, especially the March 18 governorship poll was marred by voter intimidation and violence spurred by ethnic slurs against non indigenous Lagosians, especially the Igbos.
But Fashola, a long-standing associate of president-elect, Bola Tinubu, a man who has held on to the economic and political reins of the country’s richest state for nearly three decades, said that people must come to terms with and accept the new reality of divisive politics.
“Now let me go to ethnic and all of these. You see there is a gaining currency of identity politics globally and nobody should start trying to hide behind a finger,” Mr Fashola said in answering a question on the subject.
“There is identity politics all over the world. So people vote and are impacted in making choices by so many items of stimulus. It may be my identity, it may be my faith, it might be how you cut your hair, it may be how you knot your tire. So many things influence the voter. So you can’t wish those things away.”
Elucidating on electoral violence during the elections, Mr Fashola said though “one incident of violence in election in my country does not cover us in glory,” the level of violence was not too worrying.
“That said, when you look at violence and the number of polling units disrupted, they are too insignificant compared to what we have seen in elections in the past. This was the election that had the least incident of violence,” he added.
In the run up to the Lagos guber poll, notorious Lagos this, Musiliu “MC Oluomo” Akinsanya, threatened Igbos who would not vote for his party APC to stay away from voting.
In a vicious and troubling enforcement of MC Oluomo’s threat, thugs ran riot across the street of Lagos, barring and assaulting any voter they cannot confirm their loyalty to APC.