National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being behind the anti-Igbo song in circulation.

Oyegun said “perpetrators of hate-speeches, images and songs as worse than Boko Haram”.

He was reacting to an anti-Igbo song currently in circulation in the North.

He said, “The rising wave of hate speeches, negative religious and ethnic utterances and actions as is currently being experienced, is part of the fallouts of the 2015 presidential election.

“Anyone participating in an election knows that there could only be two outcomes, you win or you lose. When you lose, you prepare for the next election.

“What we have seen however is that since 2015, some politicians and political groups have carried on as if they wished the country itself to collapse just because they are no longer in power. This is tragic indeed”, he said.

He called on security agencies to apprehend those behind the recording and other similar acts, “no matter who they are.”

According to him, “every ethnic based crises of whatever nature had started with hate speech. When people within the same country frame and define one another in the manner intended to set them up for violent attack, then they are setting themselves up for a major disaster”.

He added that, “the merchants of hate don’t know or just don’t care about the consequences of the fire they are stoking in the country. But they have the experiences of other countries to learn from. Rwanda remains a classic example on our continent.

“However, even as terrible as Rwanda was, it would be nothing compared to what could happen if a huge country like Nigeria is allowed to fall into the disaster of hate-driven conflict. This is why we must all rise, regardless of our political differences and condemn these ugly and shameful acts with one voice”.