Acting President, Yemi Osibanjo, Thursday, at the Shehu Musa Yar”Adua Center, Abuja, gave a rousing speech on national unity at a conference held to mark 50 years of the Nigerian civil war.
Osibanjo in his speech, recalled an interview years ago, when the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, explaining why he didn’t think a second Biafran War should happen, said: “We should have learnt from that first one, otherwise the deaths would have been to no avail; it would all have been in vain.”
The Acting President therefore cautioned that “we should also be careful that we do not focus exclusively on the narratives of division, at the expense of the uplifting and inspiring ones.”
He further noted that “many, if not most nations of the world are made up of different peoples and cultures and beliefs and religions, who find themselves thrown together by circumstance. Nations are indeed made up of many nations. The most successful of the nations of the world are those who do not fall into the lure of secession. But who through thick and thin forge unity in diversity.
“Nigeria is no different; we are, not three, but more like three hundred or so ethnic groups within the same geographical space, presented with a great opportunity to combine all our strengths into a nation that is truly, to borrow an expression, more than the sum of its parts,” he said.
Osibanjo painfully relived “how in 1967, passing in front of my home on Ikorodu road almost every hour were trucks carrying passengers and furniture in an endless stream heading east. Many Ibos who left various parts of Nigeria, left friends, families and businesses, schools and jobs, like my friend and aunty some never returned! But many died.
“The reasons for this tragic separation of brothers and sisters were deep and profound. So much has been said and written already about the “why’s and wherefores’’ and that analyses will probably never end,” regretted the Acting President.
He was however optimistic that “our strength is in our diversity, that we are greater together than apart. Imagine for a moment that an enterprising young man from Aba had to apply for a visa to travel to Kano to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, or that a young woman from Abeokuta had to fill immigration forms and await a verdict in order to attend her best friend’s wedding in Umuahia. Nigeria would be a much less colourful, much less interesting space, were that the case.
“Our frustrations with some who speak a different dialect or belong to a different religion must not drive us to forget many of the same tribe and faith of our adversaries who have shown true affection for us.”
Several notable speakers and guests attended the event including former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, for Education Minister and co-founder of Transparency International, Prof. Oby Ezekwesili, founder, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi and President-General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo.
