Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, wants the country’s security authorities to be proactive in order to avert what could well be a repeat of the Rwandan Genocide, in Nigeria.

Atiku made the call in a statement on Monday, with which he condemned a song circulating in the north wishing the Igbo dead.

According to Atiku, developments like this are capable of triggering a bloody inter-ethnic conflict like the one that occurred in Rwanda in 1984 between the Hutus and the Tutsis, two majority ethnic groups in Rwanda.

The crisis led to the massacre of almost one million people.

“It has come to my attention that a song disparaging people of Igbo origin, and which wishes them dead, is circulating in some parts of the nation. I totally and unequivocally condemn this development, and I call on all men of goodwill to rise up against this evil,”. Atiku stated.

“This song is reminiscent of the beginnings of the Rwanda Genocide. Nigerians need to be aware that the Rwanda Genocide was believed to have been ignited by a song titled Nanga Abahutu (I hate Hutus), sung by Rwanda’s then most popular musician, Simon Bikindi. God forbid that we should have such a déjà vu in Nigeria.

“I call on the security agencies to thoroughly and decisively swing into action and apprehend, try, convict and severely punish those behind this ungodly song which incites racial hatred.”

Atiku recalled that Bikindi, whose song had triggered the inter-ethnic crisis in Rwanda, was eventually convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal. He therefore wants Nigeria’s security authorities to bring the producers of the said song to justice.

“Let those who think they can treat their fellow citizens so unjustly know that within and outside Nigeria exist mechanisms that will ensure they answer to their crimes,” he said.

“I call on all men of goodwill to remember those immortal lines from our former National Anthem ‘though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand’.

“The difference between us as Nigerians is not a difference in our tribe or our religion. It was and remains a difference based on whether we are good Nigerians or bad Nigerians, and I am very certain that the good Nigerians far outnumber the very few bad ones.”

Atiku also commiserated with families of victims of Sunday’s church attack at a Catholic Church in Ozubulu community, Anambra State.