Former presidential aspirant Kingsley Moghalu has criticized Nigerians for their inability to progress, likening them to crabs that move sideways or backward but never forward.
His remarks follow recent genocidal threats against the Igbos residing in Lagos, which have led to calls for their forced relocation.
Moghalu strongly condemned the online campaign using the hashtag #IgboMustLeaveLagos as hate speech, urging authorities to take decisive action against such ethnic-cleansing propaganda. He highlighted the negative impact of ethnic-identity supremacy on Nigeria’s potential and economic growth.
Drawing on his experience as a Political Affairs Officer at the UN Secretariat Headquarters during the Rwanda genocide, Moghalu stressed the importance of preventing similar atrocities. He warned against the dangers of hate speech, comparing the current situation to the Radio/TV Milles Collines broadcasts that incited violence against the Tutsi in Rwanda three decades ago.
“The online #IgboMustLeaveLagos campaign is hate, criminal speech. Our leaders need to take strong action against this kind of ethnic-cleansing propaganda similar to the Radio/TV Milles Collines demonisation of the Tutsi in Rwanda 30 years ago,” Moghalu wrote on his official X page.
Reflecting on his efforts to counter the Rwandan genocide, Moghalu lamented the failure due to Great Power politics in the UN Security Council but noted the subsequent success in prosecuting the genocide’s architects at the UN International Tribunal for Rwanda. He also praised the Rwandan authorities for their local gacaca community trials and their successful national rebuilding efforts.
“Nigerian state governors recently visited Rwanda to learn the art of #GoodGovernance,” Moghalu noted.
“Nigerian leaders taking strong action would demonstrate that such hate has no place in our country.”
Moghalu emphasized that ethnic-identity supremacy has crippled Nigeria’s progress as Africa’s most populous nation, affecting both governance and the economy. “We have become like crabs who can’t move forward, only sideways or backward,” he said, commending Lagos State Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu for denouncing the hateful campaign.
