Osinbajo: How Biased Landlord Who Disliked Igbos, Ijebus Denied Me House In 1989

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has warned that weaponizing ethnic and religious prejudices for political gains can lead to ‘lethal destructive situation’ for Nigeria if unchecked. 

Speaking at the maiden policy making and good governance lecture of the NIPPS on Tuesday, Osinbajo recalled how he was once denied a rental property in 1989 by a biased landlord on the grounds of ethnicity and his professional background.

“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 shrivelled-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,” he said. 

The Vice President spoke against the backdrop of the tension witnessed between different ethnic and religious groups before, during and after the 2023 general election in Nigeria. 

Osinbajo stressed that if not addressed, identity politics or use of religion and ethnicity as political tool can result in devastating effects. 

“…when ethnic or religious prejudices are weaponised for political purposes, we are confronted with a lethal potentially destructive situation.

“Almost without fail in every election cycle, politicians overtly or covertly seek to persuade voters that voting for their particular party or candidate is the will of God and that voting for the opposing party is a violation of that divine will

“Long after an election is over, and long after the leading contenders have sheathed their swords, the rhetoric, the words and the means used to compete have adverse long-term effects on society,” he warned. 

Osinbajo reminded that the Rwandan genocide that resulted in over 500,000 deaths and Nigeria’s civil war which claimed up to N2 million lives resulted from “the manipulation of ethnoreligious sentiment that eventually boiled over into that tragedy.”

He added, “The demons released by that bloody conflict among brothers are yet to be fully caged & we pay the price of that healing process.

“People do not start hating each other during elections. While political actors may invoke ethnic or sectional sentiments, these social and cultural antipathies already exist, lurking beneath the surface.”