Thread by @toluogunlesi

Anybody who thinks that a single person needed to ‘unite’ a country of 200m is frankly deluded.

Every Nigerian leader since 1999 has been accused of not uniting the nation, & the next President in 2023 will be accused of same. That’s our way!

Uniting Nigeria is a task for ALL!

https://twitter.com/SmallAlhaji_/status/1504720056395128843

For example there’s very little any President, regardless of who he or she is, can do in the face of Media Organisations who maliciously insist on labeling certain crimes by ethnicity, while approaching other crimes differently.

The energy spent looking for a single person to ‘unite’ a country would be better spent working on ourselves as citizens, Media, CSOs, traditional & religious leaders, youth, etc, to stop being so tolerant of bigotry in our midst. To stop amplifying destructive stereotypes.

Nigeria’s Elite generally like to wield ethnicity and religion as tools for advance their political ambitions, hence the fondness for crying marginalization about everything.

How does a nation expect to progress with elite who are so hung up on malicious behavior like this?

Look at the Gov who realized he can cover up his habitual non-payment of salaries by fixating on attacking an ethnic group. See how well he’s milked that tactic. All around the country we have people like that. And yet we think one person sitting in the Villa is the solution?

Some of the people who spent the last couple of years shouting Fulanization are now the ones leading the quest for their own Fulani President. Tells you everything you need to know about how faultlines are exploited in Nigeria, by the political elite. It’s a very cynical game.

Whenever EFCC or NDLEA arrests a criminal, default mode is for many Nigerians to ethnicize the arrest somewhat. Without any evidence or proof o. Everything is reduced to ethnicity and religion - and this has been the case since before Independence.

A road is being built in a part of Nigeria that isn’t yours. Without even finding out anything about it, and about other roads being done, your instinct is to allege that your part of the country is being marginalized. I see this happen a million times daily on Twitter.

A few years ago I tweeted about the Kaduna Inland Dry Port. As expected, people entered my mentions to cry marginalization. Why is a Port being developed in the North not South.

Guess what - this is a private sector project o! And the main promoters were Yorubas and Igbos LOL.

https://twitter.com/toluogunlesi/status/1313811765193515008

But this is Nigeria for you. Crying Marginalization is the hottest game in town, regardless of who’s in power.

On May 29, 2023, a new President will be sworn in. It will be his/her turn to be accused of not uniting Nigeria - regardless of what he or she does or doesn’t do.

Not even God would be immune to allegations of marginalization and not uniting the country, where He to decide its time to take over the running of this country. Not even God would be immune.

Stop looking for one person to unite a country that should be United by everyone.

Today I did a detailed thread about NALDA’s Farm Estates. Incl the context about community participation being at the heart of it.

But you will see people showing up to mindlessly and baselessly suggest it might be a Fulani land grab opportunity, without even reading thread.

And yet people are looking for a President who will single-handedly come and unite a country full of people who see national faultlines as bases for Advancing political ambitions and gaining media clout. As if ‘Unity’ were a Presidential Executive Order away.

Few pursued ‘Unity’ like Barack Obama. In rhetoric and action; himself standing as a living embodiment of racial harmony. And yet his enemies still managed to find a way to turn him, unfairly and tragically, into an emblem of division, falsely alleging he was Muslim etc.

That America appeared to emerge more divided from the Obama years than prior,was of course by no means his fault

One man in the White House cannot do much to unite a people laden with elements for whom tribalism is oxygen, & bread & butter; fueled by media,religion,the Internet

Summary: Let’s stop looking for miracles where they do not exist. Expecting that there is ONE man or woman out there who will enter the State House and magically unite Nigeria — or America — is the height of collective self-delusion.

The work is in all our hands. Let’s DO IT!