Nigerian Acting President Yemi Osibanjo, on Tuesday warned youths in the North
that the Federal Government will not take the threats issued to Igbos
to leave the region lightly.
Osibanjo spoke during a consultative meeting with elders and leaders of thought in Northern states at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The parley also had in attendance the Senate President, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Chief of Staff, Service Chiefs and other
top officials of government.
Below is the full text of the Acting President’s remarks at the meeting:
BEING TEXT OF OPENING REMARKS MADE BY THE ACTING PRESIDENT YEMI
OSINBAJO, SAN, AT THE MEETING OF THE ACTING PRESIDENT WITH LEADERS OF
THOUGHT FROM THE NORTHERN STATES HELD AT THE OLD BANQUET HALL, STATE
HOUSE , ABUJA ON TUESDAY, 13TH JUNE, 2017
First let me say how honoured I am, by your response to my invitation to attend this special consultation.
I’m pleased to welcome all who are here today, cross-section of
elders from the Northern states of Nigeria. It is also important to
point out that there are, of course people who would qualify for the
same description, the description of very respected thought leaders, but
certainly, we cannot have everyone.
Some we could not even reach but, more importantly we wanted to have a
small number of people for this first consultation, so that we will not
have an unwieldy number.
Besides, I will also be meeting with traditional leaders from the
North and I will be meeting with respected thought leaders and religious
leaders from the South-East.
So this will be very broad series of consultations but, let me say
again that I am extremely grateful that you responded to this meeting at
very short notice.
Living in a diverse country such as ours of course as most of us who
are here know, is one that will give rise to unique challenges, several
challenges and several issues. Most, who are here today have been
witnesses to practically all phases of Nigerian History which, is one of
the reasons we have asked that you come today. There is hardly anyone
here who has not witnessed the most important landmarks in our history,
some tragic, some joyful and, many times unable to put together.
This is one of the reasons why I thought that, this particular group of people are important to be here today.
In the past few weeks, I’m sure many of us have noticed that there
have been louder noises of hate, of division, especially from the
younger persons in our society. Much louder noises than perhaps had been
the case in the past.
Recently of course there was the loud agitations about secession from
some of the groups of some young people in the South-East, IPOB and
groups that are affiliated with them but also and perhaps more recently,
the call by a group of young persons from the North, who claim to have
given an ultimatum to all of those who are from the South-East who live
in the North to vacate the North by October 1st, 2017.
Now, there are those who may deride these sort of statements that
these hate speeches that may show intolerance and promote divisions are
not important, that they should be ignored.
However, I believe that we should address them quickly and that
especially leaders of thoughts and elders, persons with experience,
persons who have been through several phases of Nigeria’s history should
be able to advice and should be able to give some directions as to how
many of those in our midst, especially younger people in our midst who
may believe that perhaps the way and means they are going about their
frustrations or their personal grievances is the right way to go.
I want to say that our defining strength is what our constitution
calls the sovereign “nation under God.” There are multitudes of people
from the North and multitudes of the people from the South who live in
either the South or the North. There is no homogenous society in
Nigeria; the North has several people living there from different parts
of the country.
Every form of violence, every form of hate speech, every stone that
is thrown in the market place will hit targets that are not even
intended. And I believe that the Nigerian people must be made very
conscious of that, so that we do not create a crisis that is
un-intended.
As part of the reasons of living together, we must know that
misunderstandings and frustrations would always arise and that people
would always complain that they are not getting the best part of the
deal. But we must be careful to recognize that we can only even begin to
talk about getting any part of anything (only) if we are together in
peace.
These days, wars do not end and I am sure that all of those who have
seen or experienced war in any form would not wish it on their worst
enemies. This is not the time to retreat behind ethnic lines. Moments
like this are not for isolating ourselves and I want to urge all of us
who are here, and of cause the entire Nigerian populace, that it is a
time for us to come together and to work together.
As a government, we are of cause determined to ensure the unity of the country along the lines of our constitution.
I want to say that hate or divisive speech, or divisive behaviour,
where it is illegal, will be met with the full force of the law. And I
want to ensure that there is no doubt of the resolve of government to
ensure that no one will be allowed to get away with making speeches that
can cause division, or that can cause violence.
Especially because when we make these kinds of pronouncements and we
do things that can cause violence or disruption of lives and property,
those who make those speeches are no longer in control.
So, I want to just emphasise that government will take very seriously
any attempts to cause violence or to disrupt the peace of this country.
That, I think is very important because we cannot control violence once
it begins.
So today I am extremely grateful that you have responded to this
meeting and I know that those who are around this table will be frank
and constructive in all of our engagements. It is a very important
engagement and I hope we will be able to get the kinds of fruit that we
desire from it.
God helping us, our country will always be a place where we can
always be proud of, where we can always live peacefully. And we always
owe it as a duty to the next generation to hand over to them a peaceful
and prosperous nation.
Thank you very much.