History is the past event that happened years back, there is a saying that history will always repeat itself, yes I believe in this saying because when I look at things happening around me, especially in my country then I have to concur with this saying, some years back we had fought well about tribalism in my country.
Tribalism is when one tribe decides to kill another tribe because they are not on good terms with each other, I heard lots of stories from my grandmother back then about how one tribe despite one another, which led to war among each other.
Now in this present generation, tribalism is resurfacing again and it is slowly killing us in this country, and the painful part is that many people don’t even see it that way. We carry it on our heads with pride, not knowing that it is the same thing that destroyed lives in the past and it’s still doing the same today.
If you ask me, one place where we’ve seen this is Benue State. Some few weeks back I read it on social media on how herdsmen invaded villages, killed people in their sleep, and left behind blood, pain, and fear. The attacks wiped whole families out. Farmlands were destroyed. People who once had homes is now homeless
They said it was about land. They said it was about cows but when you look deeper, you’ll see that it’s more than that. It’s tribalism, one group believing they can just take what they want. One group sees others as less important because they’re from another tribe. That’s how it starts slowly, quietly, and then before you know it, people are dying.
I often ask myself, how did we get here? How did we become so divided that human life no longer matters once the person is “not from our side”? It’s painful because this is not the first time. We’ve seen this kind of hate before. The civil war, the Jos crisis, history warned us but we didn’t listen. If this should occur again then the state will face each other and wage war with each other.
In my opinion, I believe we all have roles to play. We must change the way we think. We must stop seeing others as enemies simply because they don’t speak our language. Our differences are not a curse they’re a gift. Nigeria is made up of many tribes, yes, but that’s what makes it beautiful. That should not be the reason we destroy one another.
If you’ve ever looked down on someone because of their tribe, we need to stop. If you’ve ever spread hate online because of tribal issues, think again. You may not carry a weapon, but your words can also kill. We must start choosing love. We must start standing for peace even when it’s not convenient.
History is calling us to do better. What happened in Benue should not happen again. Not in Plateau, not in Kaduna, not anywhere. If we don’t learn, we will keep bleeding. If we all play our part and see each other as one people, then maybe, just maybe, history won’t repeat itself again.
This is my response to today's episode of hivelearners community prompt of #hl-w171e2 which the topic is tagged HISTORY REPEAT
