A puritanical spiral becomes a plunge

Ethnic hatred in Nigeria, particularly against Ndi Igbo, is a dangerous path. It will lead to devastating economic and social fallout, as we’ve seen elsewhere, like Uganda and Japan.

Sadly, we have entered the spiral. Consider this: today I received a video in a WhatsApp claiming that Seyi Tinubu is Ikemba Nnewi’s son, the same way some idiots in the past claimed that a) Obasanjo was Oby Ezekwesili’s Pa and that b) he was from Anambra—puritanical politics.

But in some respects, it’s the Tinubu crew reaping what they sowed. You see, Tinubu and his crew used ethnic supremacy as an election tool, from calling Jimi Agbaje “Jimichukwu” to calling Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour “tainted blood”, then of course, the whole “my Lagos is not your Lagos” bullshit.

The problem with using Puritanism as an election tool is that there will never be anyone good enough, and once you have leaned into Puritanism, people will never be pure enough.

It’s the same thing we saw in Boko Haram. Abubakar Shekau killed some of his rivals when they opted to negotiate with the government. ISWAP felt that even Shekau’s rhetoric wasn’t pure enough.

Again, it's the same Wossup group with the “tainted blood” nonsense that was pulled with GRV.

Now, among the Yoruba political class, we are going to see a form of puritanism trying to determine who can run for office and who cannot. It’s been a spiral; now it will be a plunge.