UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has been accused of profiling Nigerians as greedy and materialistic.
Mr. Johnson is leading the British Conservative party into a general election, which is set to hold on December 12.
According to the Guardian UK, Mr. Johnson made the comments in a diary piece he wrote for a British paper in October 1999.
“All the young people I know – ie those under 30 – are just as avaricious as we flinty Thatcherite yuppies of the 1980s in fact, they have an almost Nigerian interest in money and gadgets of all kinds,” Mr. Johnson was quoted to have written.
According to the Guardian UK, ‘The prime minister has been under pressure in recent months over a series of comments he made during his career as a columnist, writer and editor, including referring to black people as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” and arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west.’
The co-convenor of Stand Up to Racism, Weyman Bennett, described Johnson’s words as “deeply racist and offensive.”
He told the Guardian UK: “This can be added to the ‘piccaninnies’ and ‘watermelon smiles’, the abject refusal to properly apologise and change his behaviour around racism.
“Boris Johnson is unfit to be a prime minister that represents the entire United Kingdom. He had demonstrated this by lying and falsely representing black, Asian and different communities inside this country.
“This is deeply offensive and unforgivable and should not be ignored and he should be held to account.”
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