The Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has stated that when ethnic or religious prejudices have been weaponized for political purposes, we are confronted with a lethal potentially destructive situation.
Narrating how he was denied an accommodation for being from Ijebu and also a lawyer, Prof. Osinbajo revealed that his landlord made it clear that he will not lease his house to Igbos, Ijebus and lawyers over his personal prejudice against these people.
“In 1989, I was about to get married and I was searching for a good house to rent. I met my landlord, an elderly lawyer who obviously did more real estate than legal practice.
“He let me know that there were 3 categories of people he would not rent the property in his care to Ijebus, Igbos, and Lawyers. I was disqualified on two accounts. He then said to me, pointing behind him in a few shriveled-up books on a small bookshelf, that he had the arsenal to destroy any tenant in court if I gave him any trouble.
“He later, to his embarrassment, discovered that I was a Law teacher and adviser to the then Attorney General of the Federation and that of course, I am also Ijebu.
“I share this to illustrate the point that prejudice and bias are natural aspects of human nature. Everyone has prejudices and preferences that are reinforced by stories and narratives.”
Speaking against the division experienced in the last general elections, he made it clear that stories becomes facts when they are repeated widely and not debunked, it forms a basis for prejudice and bias.
“Prejudice is a function of the environment in which one is socialised and the level of exposure that one has. These stereotypes are of course, by the very nature of stereotypes, wild generalisations that are unlikely to hold up if empirical tests are conducted.
Sometimes, we repeat stories so many times that they are soon accepted as facts. When we accept these stories as facts, we shape our judgment of others and entrench bias and prejudice.”
