From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Miffed by the increasing wave of agitations and escalating insecurity situation in the country, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has warned those behind the spate of the strife that Nigeria cannot withstand another civil war.
Osinbajo spoke Tuesday night at an interactive section with Anambra State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants at an event organised by State Chapter of APC Patriots.
He also appealed to the political elites to break the graveyard silence on happenings in the country, especially calls for the disintegration of the country.
He said the silence of the political class on the spate of attacks in the South-East and other parts of the country would have monumental consequences on national life.
“The thing about the kind of conflict in this part of the world, a developing country, is that it is usually a war without end. Everyone who thinks they have some monies stored up somewhere, will eventually run out of money. Everyone who thinks they can go and hide somewhere, won’t even find a place to hide, in the end everyone will suffer. Even if you don’t suffer, your parents, children, young, old people and your relations will suffer. We cannot afford a war in this country, we can`t afford it,” he said. The VP also said the more the political elite maintained the current culture of silence and failed to address the situation, the more things would continue to slide.
He maintained that at the end of the day, it was the political elite that determines what happens in every society, emphasising that keeping quite could led to a more dangerous situation.
“I pray that our country will never know conflict, but I know that every conflict is as a result of elite failure to speak up the truth and tell the truth to their communities. If we don’t speak up against disunity, if we keep quiet and remain under the radar, the enemies of peace and those who want to promote disunity will have their way. And when this happens, we will find ourselves running helter skelter,’’ Osinbajo said.
On the forth coming APC Anambra governorship primary slated for June 26, he assured all aspirants of a level playing field. He charged them to work in unity and support whoever emerged as standard-bearer of the party for the November 6 poll.
Coordinator of Anambra State APC Patriots, who organised the governorship aspirants interactive session, Dozie Ikedife Jnr, said the interface was designed to bring all aspirants together to interact with each other and party stakeholders.
Aspirants who attended the event included Senator Andy Uba, Dr. George Moghalu, Dr. Chidozie Nwankwo, Johnbosco Onunkwo, Azuka Okwuosa, Paul Orajiaka, Chief Ben Etiaba, Col. Geoffrey Onyejegbu (retd) and Maxwell Okoye.