By Henry Akubuiro
Worried by seeming strange predictions and hyped religious ventilations over political issues in the country, Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe, has decried the recent divisive tendencies.
If left unchecked, he said this development might further create bad blood among Nigerians, which is unnecessary at this point in the nation’s trajectory.
Runsewe’s cautionary remarks came on the heels of the current rash of predictive political slants across Nigeria’ s diverse religious and cultural ecosystem, threatening the fabric of Nigeria’s peace and security, a time bomb that might blow up the country into pieces.
“It is becoming evident that predictions and not prophecies, is the new game in town. From football to Cricket, wrestling, dancing competitions and, lately, politics. Some Nigerians, who claim to hear from God, now oxygenate, escalate and poison the socioeconomic and political space with laughable and troubling positions, not minding the negative impact of such predictive actions on the emotional intelligence of the people,” Runsewe noted.
Concerned that the rash of predictions across the country from strange enclaves, particularly on the political front, Runsewe, who is also the President, Africa Region, World Craft Council, appealed to Nigerians to ignore the purveyors of such mercantile predictions but hold to the best cultural and religious teachings that binds Nigerians together, and on not issues that may further polarise and set Nigerians against one another another.
“We at NCAC are gravely concerned and had, in the past, worked together with religious leaders across the divide to restore peace to some troubled parts of the country, from Jos, kaduna and Abuja.
“We also networked with our traditional rulers during each celebration of National Festival of Arts and Culture (Nafest), to promote the quest to live together in peace and harmony, which engenders national development.
“When our children were toeing the lines of strange foreign influences, we reached out to our national women societies and groups to nip the process in the bud. We shall also target this avalanche of predictions given a religious face, and arrest its dangerous influence on our once peaceful and tolerant society.
“The tension created by drivers of these predictive vehicles across the board is becoming increasingly worrisome. Some unguided, young persons have met with untimely death when their football teams, and or iconic diverse players and participants in regional or global entertainment and sports events predicted to win, failed in such quests.
“The predictive melancholy has hit the political space in Nigeria like a hurricane, and everywhere is charged. We must not as Nigerians allow this unfortunate situation to persist and destroy us. The tribal slurring must also be stopped by all means.
“As Nigerians, we must unite and line up behind the best religious, cultural and historical narratives that bind us together and nothing more. Our cultural diversity is superior and which entails that we must respect each other’s cultural sensitivities,” Runsewe said.
Since becoming the NCAC Director General, Otunba Runsewe has been an apostle of national cohesion and cultural exchange among Nigeria’s ethnic diversities.
At the last National Festival of Arts and Culture, held in Lagos reiterated the need for national unity: “For a long time we have been discussing what divides us as a people, and the Nigerian media has been stressing the need for us to unite and celebrate what binds us together, but we have not been listening.
“Interestingly, we do not have another country other than Nigeria. So this year’s Nafest is to open up a new synergy to unite Nigeria. We must not allow other people to tell our stories for us.”