•Says too much blood has been shed for Nigeria’s unity
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, continued his consultations with leaders of thoughts and traditional rulers from the North and South-eastern regions, with a declaration that both the renewed agitation for the state of Biafra and the ultimatum to Igbo to relocate from the North were wrong and unlawful.
Osinbajo said this in his opening remarks at the meeting with traditional rulers drawn from all the senatorial districts of the five South-east states led by Eze Udo 1 of Mgboko Ngwa Amaise, Abia State, Eberechi Dick, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Osinbajo said both groups were clearly violating the Nigerian Constitution, which insisted on the sanctity of the unity of the country and the right of every citizen to reside in any part of the country.
He pointed out that apart from the legal indivisibility of the country, too many Nigerians have paid for the continued unity of the country with their lives and blood.
Osinbajo stated that where there were grievances to be addressed, the only way to make anything right was by doing it right, instead of threatening to break the law or the country.
The acting president who insisted that the greatness of any community was in its unity, also explained that government considered the peculiar role of the traditional rulers in fixing a separate meetings for them, because of the unique positions they hold, especially in their relationship with those that live in their kingdoms.
“This was the reason why we chose to have two separate meetings, one with the South-east Traditional Rulers, and tomorrow evening, I will be having one also with traditional rulers from the north. I want to emphasis that it is the unique position that traditional rulers occupy that is behind separate consultations and we want to take much advantage of it as much as possible.
“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.
“Those agitations, the manner of those agitations, the method and objective are wrong, unlawful and a violation of our constitution.
“Our constitution says in Section two that Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“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.
“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 why men 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 across the various zones of this country. Many have to do with perceived marginalisation, some have argued safety in the different zones have been compromised. 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,” he said.
He assured that government was committed to listening to reasons behind the various agitations and ensure justice for all.
“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 offence that have been caused between each other, the greatness of any community lies in our unity. We trust that you, our royal fathers, will give us the right directional advise to ensure that our country remains together.”
At the meeting were Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na-Allah.
