The brazen bravado recently displayed by the Canadian-Nigerian, Amaka Patience Sunnberger, a disability support worker in Brampton, Canada, openly threatening to poison fellow Nigerians, specifically of Yoruba and Edo ethnic groups extraction through their food and water, calls for serious concern – and urgent action too.

What more, such a vile vituperation coming up at a tension-soaked period when concerned citizens are trying out both legal and proactive measures to douse the flaring flames of the delicate interethnic disharmony needs to be thoroughly investigated. Beyond that, the masterminds behind her malicious motive have to be fished out and brought to speedy justice.

Doing so will certainly save the nation of needless chaos and anarchy that could degenerate into another ethnic-related pogrom. In fact, lasting lessons learnt so far from the hindsight of history should inform us that genocides do not begin with bullets or bayonets. They indeed start with hate speeches, such as that of Sunnberger.

So it played out with the Holocaust, which did not begin with the gas chambers. It was a similar horrendous scenario as the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the constant nationalist propaganda propelled through party-controlled media channels that demonised Bosnian Muslims.

Back to the African continent, the 1994 Rwanda genocide hatched and unleashed against the Tutsi began with decades of hate speeches which were exacerbated by inter-ethnic tensions.

Nigeria cannot therefore, afford or survive another civil war, which is why the recent build-up of distrust via hate speeches from the north to the south and vice versa, which has snowballed outside our shores, up to Canada should not be treated with kid gloves. Against this dark backdrop, we must commend both the House of Representatives and the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) for their rapid responses to Sunnberger’s threat so far.

For instance, while the former filed a petition to the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, James Christoff, on August 28, 2024 through the Chairman of the Nigeria Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group, Biodun Omoleye, the NIDCOM has directly reached out to officials there in Canada.

Against this dark backdrop, we must commend both the House of Representatives and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) for their rapid responses to Sunnberger’s threat so far

According to Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairperson of NIDCOM, the petition was filed and presented to Patrick Brown, the Mayor of Brampton.

It highlights the potential danger of Sunnberger’s incendiary threat on the vulnerable Nigerians in Canada, as it clearly violates international and Canadian laws. And in spite of the lady’s braggadocio with the defiance that she can neither be arrested by the police nor deported to Nigeria her days of questioning have come.

Though media reports have claimed that her anger, as expressed, came as her own response to a similar one linked to some Yoruba groups that recently asked the Igbos to relocate from Lagos to the SouthEast geo-political zone, what is of significance is the recurring culture of impunity.

That is especially so by previous and current administrations to such despicable inter-ethnic threats. For instance, it would be recalled that in June 2017 a coalition of youth groups in the northern part of Nigeria gave a three-month ultimatum for the Igbos to vacate their land. It was because of the clamour of the Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB for the creation of Biafra Republic.

Though the Igbos refused to leave, the brains behind the threat still walk our streets as free citizens! Subsequently, in July 2023 the Niger-Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, openly threatened to kill any Igbo man in sight, while audaciously brandishing an AK-47 rifle in a viral video clip.

Yet, even after the letter of condemnation written by some Igbo lawyers and sent to the then Inspector General of Police, Dokubo still parades himself as an untouchable supporter of President Bola Tinubu, and talks and walks with impunity!

In which other country does such a dehumanising situation take place and persist? Something drastic and urgent must therefore, be done to rein in the perpetrators of the open hatred for other ethnic groups.

As the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi has rightly denounced such anomalous display of effrontery against fellow Nigerians based on ethnic or religious sentiments as unable to contribute positively to the development of infrastructure, education, healthcare delivery or pull people out of poverty.

That should be food-forthought, not only for the masterminds of ethnic bigotry but our political elite who see no wrong in the purveyors of hate speech, unaware that if and when the push comes to shove, we all will be vulnerable to the calamitous consequences.

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