Why Using Racial and Religious Biases as Weapons in Politics Can Be Negative – Osinbajo

To demonstrate the nature of prejudices, the vice president related a personal story from many years ago.

Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, has spoken out against the political weaponization of stereotypes and biases based on race and religion.

On Monday, Osinbajo offered his perspective at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies’ (NIPSS) first Policy Making and Good Governance Lecture Series, “Building a Heartland for All: Nation-building in a Diverse Democracy.”

The Vice-President shared a section of his address on Twitter on Wednesday, using a story from his past to explain the nature of prejudices.

I was looking for a suitable rental home in 1989 because I was getting married soon. I got to know my landlord, a retired lawyer who plainly focused more on real estate than legal work,” he recalled.

Ijebus, Igbos, and lawyers were three groups of individuals he informed me he would not rent the property under his management to. On two different accounts, I was rejected.

“He then told me that if I caused him any difficulty, he had the weaponry to demolish any tenant in court, while pointing behind him to a few shriveled-up volumes on a little bookcase.

Later, much to his disgust, he learned that I was a law professor, a consultant to the then-attorney general of the Federation, and that Ijebu is, of course, who I am.

“I offer this to demonstrate the idea that bias and prejudice are inherent qualities of human nature. Stories and tales serve to reinforce everyone’s preconceptions and preferences.

He claims that one’s amount of exposure and the setting in which they were socialised determine one’s level of bias.

By their very nature, stereotypes are wild generalisations that are unlikely to hold up when put to the test through actual research, according to Osinbajo.

Sometimes we repeat stories so frequently that they come to be believed as reality. By treating these accounts as reality, we colour our perceptions of others and solidify prejudice.

Yet, he continued, “we are faced with a fatal or disastrous situation when racial or religious prejudices are weaponised for political objectives.”