REMARKS BY THE ACTING PRESIDENT FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS
EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON AT A MEETING WITH TRADITIONAL RULERS
FROM THE SOUTH-EAST AT THE OLD BANQUET HALL, STATE HOUSE, ABUJA ON JUNE
18, 2017.
``It will be wrong of us to approach even our grievances
by threatening to disobey the laws or by threatening the integrity of our
nation.’’
PROTOCOL
Let me begin by thanking all of our royal fathers who have taken
the time to come today. I know the notice has been extremely short but the
reason why you have nevertheless honoured our invitation is because of the
importance that you have attached to the consultations that we are holding and
the reasons for those consultations.
So, I welcome you our royal fathers, distinguished elders and
leaders to this important meeting.
Also, today our country joins other nations in the celebration
of Fathers’ Day and who better to celebrate Fathers’ Day with than our royal
fathers, so I wish all happy fathers’ day.
Last week, I met on different dates with leaders of thought from
the North and leaders of thought also from the South-East.
But in planning these meetings, I was conscious that we should
have a separate set of meetings with our traditional rulers because of the
peculiar and unique positions that they hold especially in their relationships
with those who live in their kingdom and this is the reason we chose to have
two separate meetings – One with the South-East traditional rulers
and tomorrow evening, I will be meeting with traditional rulers from
the North.
I want to emphasize that it is the peculiar, unique position that traditional rulers occupy that makes this separate consultation important and deserving and I really would want us to take advantage of this opportunity.
Most of us are aware especially for those who have been following the consultations, we have worked very hard to ensure that the representations across the two zones that we are interested in consulting with initially is as wide as possible and we have tried to inculcate that even in our traditional rulers today.
As you are aware there has been agitation from some of our
youths in the South-East urging secession, the creation of Biafra. In apparent
response, young people in the North, under the aegis of Arewa youths have
purportedly issued an ultimatum where they have set a date for the eviction of
persons from South-East region who live in the Northern states.
The manner of those agitations, the method and objectives are
wrong, unlawful and the violation of the laws of Nigeria and the constitution
of Nigeria. I want to repeat that both the agitations for secession and the
ultimatum to leave the Northern states are wrong and a violation of our
constitution.
Our constitution says in Section 2 that Nigeria is one
indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and that is the law of our country.
Let us not be in any doubt about the fact that the Federal
Government is committed to ensuring that our country remains united.
And that anyone who violates the law in the manner such as we
are seeing all over the place will be met with the full force of the law.
And the reason why it is so, is because Nigeria's unity is one
for which enough blood has been spilled and many hundreds of thousands of lives
have been lost. Many have paid for the unity of this country with their lives
and it will be wrong of us as men and women of goodwill in this generation to
toy with those sacrifices that have been made.
This is the reason why men and women of goodwill in our generation must not tolerate any tendency that drags us in the direction of yet another civil conflict.
But we must be sensitive to the reasons why there are agitations
by the various young men and in fact several others across the various zones of
this country. Many have to do with perceived marginalization, some have argued,
safety in the different zones have been compromised in various ways.
But I want to say the only way to make things right is to do
things right. And it will be wrong of us to approach even our grievances by
threatening to disobey the laws or by threatening the integrity of our
nation.
What the Federal Government of Nigeria is committed to do is
ensuring we listen to all the reasons, the various suggestions, the various
agitations, and the reasons for those agitations and to ensure that we do
justice by all persons regardless of where you are from in this
country. That is the commitment of Federal Government which I am able to
make to you today.
I recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had said once that as a
person who served in the Nigeria Army, he committed his life to the service of
this country and that he did so not alone but with others from the North,
South, West and East of Nigeria.
And that he fought side by side from the Congo to some many related places where he has served the country, and they served side by side protecting each other’s lives and ensuring that all of them were safe. That they were in that Nigerian Army, men and women from all parts of Nigeria and that is the reason according to him why he is so committed in ensuring that Nigeria remains one united country.
Our greatness lies in our being together and I believe very
strongly that as our royal fathers, you will ensure the message is clear to
all, that the greatness of any people lies in their ability to work together
despite our differences, despite the types of offense that have been caused
between each other, the greatness of any community lies in unity.
I trust that you, our royal fathers, will give us the right
directional advice to ensure that our country remains together.
Thank you very much and God bless you.
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Politics