Acting President asks leaders to show younger generation pathway to unity in diversity
Osinbajo made the call at the colloquium on 50 years of Biafra organised by the Yar’Adua Memorial Centre in Abuja.
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria's Acting President
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Osinbajo made the call at the colloquium on 50 years of Biafra organised by the Yar’Adua Memorial Centre in Abuja on Thursday.
The event, tagged “Memory and Nation Building, Biafra; 50 years After, was co-sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Initiative West Africa.
The Acting President commended the organisers of the event for offering the platform for such conversation, saying that “they deserve our deep gratitude for this opportunity for individual and collective introspection.’’
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He said that introspection was probably what separates human beings from beasts, adding that the ability to learn from history was perhaps the greatest defense from the avoidable pain of learning from experience.
Osinbajo, who said he lost his friend and aunt to the Biafra war, added that “Nigerians are greater as a nation together than being apart.
“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.
“The reasons for this tragic separation of brothers and sisters were deep and profound, so much has been said and written already about the whys and wherefores and that analysis will probably never end.
“The truth is that the spilling of blood in dispute is hardly ever worth the losses.
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“Of the fallouts of bitter wars is the anger that can so easily be rekindled by those who for good or ill want to resuscitate the fire’’, Osinbajo said.
He stressed that no country was perfect “ as there has always been expressions of intra-national discontent.’’
He said the more beneficial way for us individually and collectively was to apply the effort and patience to understand one another.
This, he said, was critical to ensure that we progressively aspired to create one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.
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He maintained that this should be the Nigerian dream and the enthusiasm to create a country that provides reasons for its citizens to believe in it.
The acting president said the country may not be there yet, but has a strong chance to advance and be the envy of other nations.
This, he however said, would not happen if we as a people allowed our frustrations and grievances to transmute into hatred.
“It will not happen if we see the media and especially social media as platforms for the propagation of hateful and divisive rhetoric’’, he said.
“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.
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“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’’, the acting president said.
He maintained that no one stands to benefit from such stance, adding that our strength as a people was in our diversity.
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