Media is key to bearing down on Hate Speeches - Amb Omaki says

Media practitioners in Nigeria have been urged to promote the campaign against hate speech to avoid a repeat of 1994 Rwanda genocide in the country.

Former Ambassador to Chad, Ambassador Abdullahi Omaki stated this in Port Harcourt at a sensitization Campaign against hate speeches organized by a nongovernmental organization, Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development.

Ambassador Omaki who blamed the Rwandan genocide which claimed about one million lives on the media urged practitioners to seek common grounds that will promote peace and unity.

  

Some participants from the media organisations called for the campaign to be carried out more regularly for politicians.

Other participants at the forum including the State coordinator, Youth Alliance on Electoral Reform, Mr. Godspower Igwe, President Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Eric Omari and the Speaker, Niger Delta Youth Assembly, Mr. Armstrong Ovie promised to promote the campaign against hate speech.

Our correspondent reports that participants at the forum were drawn from the South-South and the South-East States.