FULL REMARKS BY
THE ACTING PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI
OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON AT IFTAR WITH TRADITIONAL RULERS FROM THE NORTH AT THE OLD
STATE HOUSE BANQUET HALL, ABUJA ON JUNE 19, 2017.
PROTOCOL
Let me first say
how honoured I am by the visit of all of your royal highnesses today for this
Iftar. And just as you-(Sultan of Sokoto) said, it involved a bit of movement
back and forth; the Sultan just arrived this morning from a trip abroad and he
is still able to make it here.
So, I am really
grateful for your consenting to come to join us at this Iftar but also to wait
till tomorrow despite
the plans that you may have made.
Our nation
requires the kind of maturity, the kind of leadership that you have displayed
and I want to thank you for that leadership and for that maturity.
It is
heartwarming to know that we have leaders especially traditional leaders, who
are prepared to make sacrifices, who are prepared to make concessions and
compromises for the good of our nation and I want to thank you for that great
leadership.
In particular, I
want to thank the Sultan for always being there, for always being ready to
offer advice and in many times to offer an alternative view to what might
appear to be the popular view and I am extremely grateful to you for all
of that support.
The way that we
see things developing around our nation today (obviously as you said, even
within families, you have disputes, you have controversies) is worrisome.
All of us have
however agreed that our nation must remain one. When we spoke yesterday with
traditional rulers from the South-East; despite the issues that were raised
here and there. I think that there is clarity as to that one thing, that our
country ought to remain, must remain a united country.
Just as I said
to them yesterday, a lot of blood has been shed on account of the unity of our
country and our faithfulness even to the lives of those who have made the
supreme sacrifice to this country, demands that we do everything on our part to
keep this country together.
And in any
event, the greatest nations in the world are those nations who have the size as
well as the human resources in particular to make the best of that size, and I
think our nation has that and the mere fact that we have such a large nation
and so well-endowed, in terms of human resources.
I think that we
are in the best position not only to be truly great but to ensure that all of
our people benefit from the greatness of our country.
So, I want to
thank you again for your kindness and for doing us this honour of attending
this Iftar and for sharing the love of the season.
I pray that the
almighty God will bless you and keep your kingdoms safe and also extend your
own lives so that you will rule your kingdoms for long and you will rule your
kingdoms in good health.
Thank you.
Tags
Politics