Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says God must be a Nigerian else the country would have ceased to exist considering what it had been through.
Obasanjo said this on Monday at the 9th Toyin Falola Annual International Conference held at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State.
The former leader said he knew many Nigerians that wanted to move out of the country because they could not get what they wanted.
Obasanjo spoke on a paper he titled ‘Towards a re-unification of the sacred and secular: Religious interventions in politics’.
“God is a Nigerian because what we have gone through in Nigeria and what we are going through, probably, Nigeria should not be on the map of the world. That’s why I say God is a Nigerian.
“You can’t take politics and leave religion, and you can’t take religion and leave politics; they are together; they both affect the welfare and the well-being of all of us as we live.
“As far as religion is concerned, there are two issues — diversity and identity.
“We are so badly handling our diversity that we are losing our identity. As long as we are doing that, we are going nowhere.
“The management of diversity must be right, religion, politics and ethnicity are part of our diversity which must be well managed.
“When you mismanage diversity with impunity, it is particularly annoying. It can lead to what we may not want it to lead to.
“I don’t know of any Nigerian who doesn’t wish Nigeria well, but, I know many Nigerians who are unhappy and want to leave Nigeria. Our issue is so because what they expect from Nigeria they are not getting,” he said.
The ex-military ruler was joined by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who represented Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
The former leader said he knew many Nigerians that wanted to move out of the country because they could not get what they wanted.
Obasanjo spoke on a paper he titled ‘Towards a re-unification of the sacred and secular: Religious interventions in politics’.
“God is a Nigerian because what we have gone through in Nigeria and what we are going through, probably, Nigeria should not be on the map of the world. That’s why I say God is a Nigerian.
“You can’t take politics and leave religion, and you can’t take religion and leave politics; they are together; they both affect the welfare and the well-being of all of us as we live.
“As far as religion is concerned, there are two issues — diversity and identity.
“We are so badly handling our diversity that we are losing our identity. As long as we are doing that, we are going nowhere.
“The management of diversity must be right, religion, politics and ethnicity are part of our diversity which must be well managed.
“When you mismanage diversity with impunity, it is particularly annoying. It can lead to what we may not want it to lead to.
“I don’t know of any Nigerian who doesn’t wish Nigeria well, but, I know many Nigerians who are unhappy and want to leave Nigeria. Our issue is so because what they expect from Nigeria they are not getting,” he said.
The ex-military ruler was joined by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who represented Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
