…Says leadership in Africa must act fast
The resurgence of hate speech, racism, nationalism and all the identity type problems that is going on around the world today is frightening and a compelling reason to reflect on what happened in Rwanda 25 years ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said,
Osinbajo said this in an interview with journalists shortly after participating in the activities of the 25th Commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide held in Kigali on Sunday.
“The resurgence of hate speech is frightening for everyone we see in different countries not just in Africa and but also in Europe. So, I think that there are many leaders today who want to ensure that we do not ever see a repeat of what happened, the genocide that happened here in Rwanda or any where else in the world for that matter,” he said.
The vice president said leaders across different sections of the society must caution against acts that incite and cause disorder.
“The only way is for us to recognize that experience, that is why the President Muhammadu Buhari has emphasised repeatedly that we must contain ourselves, especially in terms of speech that could incite; inciting hate speech and all that.
“I think that it is important; that we recognise especially for the people, religious leaders, politicians, it is important that we recognise sometimes that it is easy to push things to the tipping point to create a situation just by inciting words, that we can actually create a situation that can completely go out of control.
“I think we have learnt, a lot of us, a lot of African countries do not want to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda and if you listened to some of the speeches here today, it is very obvious that the wounds for Rwanda were very deep and they are still healing. So, at 25 years on, you can still feel the pain, you can still hear in their speeches, in their voices and in their experiences; this is still a very deep wound,” he said.
Earlier at the Kigali Genocide Memorial event, the vice presiden, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other world leaders laid wreaths and performed the lighting of the memorial flame to mark the day.
