Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has delivered a dispassionate call for the nation to stay united, amid renewed agitation for a breakup and the creation of an independent state of Biafra.
Clearly 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.
Mr. Osinbajo said Nigerian s should think more of what unites them than what separates them.
“No country is perfect; around the world we have seen and continue to see expressions of intra-national discontent,” the acting president said. “The truth is 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.”
Mr. Osinbajo made the statement in Abuja at the colloquim on “Biafra: 50 years after’’ organized by the Yar’ Adua Foundation at the Shehu Musa Yar’ adua Centre, Abuja, where he spoke to a cross section of political leaders which include former President Olusegun Obasanjo, John Nwodo, leader of Ohaneze, the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural organization and Ahmed Joda amongst other dignitaries that graced the occasion.
Below is the full text of the Acting President’s Speech delivered at the occasion.
BEING THE TEXT OF THE SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY, ACTING PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, AT THE COLLOQUIM ON BIAFRA: 50 YEARS AFTER ORGANISED BY YAR’ ADUA FOUNDATION ON 25TH MAY, 2017
GREATER TOGETHER THAN APART.
The conveners of this event, the Yar’ Adua Memorial Centre, the Ford foundation and the Open Society initiative West Africa, have done us an enormous favour by offering us the platform for this profoundly important conversation. They deserve our deep gratitude for this opportunity for individual and collective introspection.
Introspection is probably what separates us from beasts. That ability to learn from history is perhaps the greatest defense from the avoidable pain of learning from experience, when history is a much gentler and kinder teacher. Indeed, the saying experience is the best teacher, is incomplete, the full statement of that Welsh adage is that experience is the best teacher for a fool. History is a kinder and gentler teacher.
I was ten years old when my friend in primary school then, Emeka, left school one afternoon. He said his parents said they
