Ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the United Nations (UN) has strengthened its message against hate speech in Nigeria and acts that might lead to profiling and violence against people based on their ethnic group, language, religious affiliation or voting choices.
The UN also declared its intention to activate the instruments within its disposal to sanction any individual or group that spread hate speech or hate action during the electioneering campaigns, even as it warned politicians in Nigeria to eschew such acts to prevent major crises in the country.
This message was the crux of a press conference organized by the UN System in Nigeria to Commemorate the International Day in Memory of the victims of the Holocaust, held at the UN House, Abuja on Thursday.
The theme of this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is celebrated on every January 27, is “It started with words: How hate speech can cause real harm.’’
United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Matthias Schmale, said it has become incumbent on Nigerian leading political figures to desist from speaking words that may plunge the country into chaos and war, stressing that the Holocaust atrocity, in which 6 million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany, during the World War 2 (1939-1945) started with hate speech against the Jews.
Schmale said: “In Nigeria, with national elections imminent, we must be watchful for any upsurge in hate speech and disinformation, particularly if tensions were to rise between political, regional, or ethnic groups.
Source : Leadership
