Nigeria Will Not Split...US Govt

The United States Consul General in Lagos, Jeffrey Hawkins, has said Nigeria will not split in spite of its current socio-political problems.

Speaking in Lagos, at a press conference on the premiere of the movie, Selma, the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James F. Entwistle, dismissed the widely rumoured insinuations that the American government had predicted that Nigeria would split anytime from 2015.

In his remark, Mr Entwistle said Nigeria was not different from all other countries in the world with various degrees of challenges but that would not make them split.

He noted that his country, the United States, had had its fair share of political challenges and that did not make it split.

The ambassador said Nigeria was a strong country that had not shown any sign of disintegration.

He queried why people predicted doom for the country rather than work towards its strength.

‘‘Do you want Nigeria to break up?’’ he asked.

Earlier, founder, House on The Rock church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, had had admonished Nigerians to work towards peace and unity of the country.

In his press statement delivered at the event, Pastor Adefarasin said ‘‘knowing that peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice, we must ensure that peace, justice and equity are enshrined in Nigeria.”

He warned that the interest of Nigeria could not be determined along ethnic or religious lines, noting that ‘‘the tragic events in parts of this country are a harsh reminder that dialogue, peace and religious tolerance are crucial to our continued existence.”

On his part, the Nigerian-born British actor, David Oyelowo, acknowledged the timeliness of his movie to the current political experience in Nigeria.

He said it was a thing of joy for him to make a movie that would speak to the need of the country’s social and political development.

‘‘Nigeria is my country of birth and I spent seven years of my life here and we all must contribute our quota towards its development and the peaceful co-existence of the people living therein,’’ he said.

Oyelowo wanted every Nigerian to eschew violence and embrace peace, which he said was the central theme of Selma.

He posited that it was legitimate to press for one’s rights under the law, but cautioned that it must be done in a violence-free manner.

Pastor Adefarasin further reiterated the need to foster and promote non-violence before, during and after the general election in Nigeria.

He said the Rock Foundation had partnered with the United States Mission to Nigeria to premiere the movie, Selma, which chronicled the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. led a campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition.