APA - Lagos (Nigeria)

Former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings has warned Nigerians that if the spread of hate speeches is not checked and nipped in the bud, the country may be heading towards another civil war.

Speaking at the 12th Annual Alumni Lecture, organised by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association in Ekiti State on Tuesday, Rawlings stressed that the spread of hate speeches in the country was taking a dangerous dimension and should be checked.

The report by Nigeria’s Independent newspaper quoted Rawlings as saying that another civil war in Nigeria would set the country backward and called on those at the helms of affairs to prevent incitements and the impending tribal warfare.

 “The world is a global village and everything that is happening in Nigeria or any other part of the world is known to everyone. I want to tell you here that I don’t like what is going on in Nigeria at the moment. Nobody likes it. I am talking about a dangerous corruption of ethnicity, tribal warfare and incitement, which appear to be rearing its ugly head again and it’s moving towards a very dangerous level in Nigeria.

“Let’s find a way out of this. It needs to be filtered out. Don’t go there, stop threatening each other. It’s not safe. Let’s learn how to accommodate each other. The continent needs you strong and united,” he said.

He decried the high corrupt practices on the continent, stressing that money bag politicians have succeeded in manipulating the process of objective elections in Africa, but called on the electorate to always ensure that people with integrity are put at the helms of affairs.

Rawlings lamented that despite the voting out of corrupt politicians in Nigeria in 2015, the country and Ghana are still rated among the most corrupt countries in the world, noting that corruption had eaten deep into the system.

According to him, politicians with integrity on the continent should appoint into offices people of like-minds so that Africa’s low ratings on transparency will change.

GIK/APA