Acting President Yemi Osinbajo calls for a united Nigeria

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Acting President Yemi Osinbajo calls for a united Nigeria

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A call to work for a united Nigeria has been made by Nigeria’s Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, saying that the country would be “greater together than apart.”The call was made by Osinbajo at a one-day conference at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Nigerian civil war.Organized by the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation with the support of the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Initiative West Africa, the conference had the attendance of distinguished Nigerians, like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Pat Utomi and Alhaji Ahmed Joda, all giving their experiences of the civil war. They however offered measures to be taken to avoid similar event in the country.In his keynote address, Osinbajo, urged Nigerians to at all times consider unifying issues for the growth of the nation.“Instead of trying to flee into the lazy comfort of homogeneity every time we are faced with the frustrations of living together as countrymen and women, the more beneficial individually and collectively is actually to apply the effort, the patience to understand one another and to progressively aspire to create one nation, which in the words of our anthem is bound in freedom, peace and unity.  That in a sense should be the Nigerian creed; the enthusiasm that to create a country that provides reasons for the citizens to believe in it, a country that does not discriminate or marginalize,” he said. The Acting President reminded everyone to learn from the past and also encouraged Nigerians not to “focus exclusively on the narrative of division at the expense of uplifting and inspiring ones“. He charged the leaders to always defend the constitution and eschew any form of discrimination.“We must not allow our leaders the easy but dangerous rhetoric of blaming our social and economic conditions on our coming together,”Â  he also said it is “our duty to give us a vision, a pathway, to make our unity in diversity more perfect.”Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s view about the civil war was considered “a creeping incident”Â which, in his words, would have been far-fetched if the founding fathers did not come together.Obasanjo, who was active throughout the civil war period, reiterated the Nigerian forces’ observation of the Geneva Convention and a special code of conduct aimed at minimizing loss of lives.He remarked that reconciliation was in view by the Nigerian government since the war began.Other dignitaries present were the West African Representative of the Ford Foundation, Innocent Chukwuma, board member of the Yar’Adua Foundation and Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dubem Onyia.

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