.Cautions ethnic, Religious leaders against utterances that may ignite hatred

The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) on the platform of Labour Party (LP), Ireti Kingibe, has saluted the courage of Nigerians and their ability to weather the storms of adversity as the country celebrates 63 years of independence

The Senator in an Independence Day message through a statement she issued in Abuja on Saturday, noted that only few nations could withstand the kind of pressures, crises and challenges Nigeria has faced since 1960 and still remained as one corporate indivisible entity.

According to her, it was remarkable that despite a regrettable Civil War which raged for over three years with plethora of religious, communal and religious conflicts, successive generations of Nigerians have resolved that the dream of the nation’s Founding Fathers to bequeath to posterity, one nation bound by the ideals of unity, peace, tolerance and respect for law and due process, remained on course.

She said: “Over the course of the last six decades, we have had challenges that would have splintered or perhaps, obliterated other nations. Indeed, we are witnesses to the fact that many nations, which thrived at the turn of the 20th century have disappeared off the map of the world to be replaced by small and less cohesive entities. The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia are two prime examples.”

She observed that in the 20th Century and even currently, many nations across the globe totter on the brink of extinction. “However, Nigeria by contrast has stoically weathered the storms of adversity and remained determined to overcome its many challenges.
“We have consistently defeated the centrifugal forces and elements, which have again and again, sought to drive a wedge between our people.

“Our strength has been our resilience and collective resolve to see our ethnic and religious diversity as building blocks for national unity and cohesion rather than drawbacks.”

Senator Kingibe noted that it is in Nigeria that the phrase, “safety in numbers…” finds its fullest expression.

“Our population has been our strength. In addition to providing the needed manpower for national development, it has provided an added advantage of making us a regional and continental power. We must therefore continue to leverage on the size of our population to help the nation overcome its many developmental challenges.

“Given our size and the plenitude of natural resources God has blessed us with, we must like China and India – two nations with populations far outstripping ours, turn our numbers to our advantage. God has positioned us to play a leading role on the African continent; we must rise to the occasion but we cannot do so without rising to our full height; else we would be nothing but a giant on spindly legs”, Senator Kingibe stated.

She admonished ethnic and religious leaders on the need to thread carefully in their conduct and utterances, saying that leadership is a burden and a sacred mandate that must be discharged with the deepest sense of responsibility.

“Each time I muse on leadership, I am reminded of one pithy saying in the late Prof. Ola Rotimi’s “The Gods Are Not to Blame”, where one of the characters noted that “when the mother cow eats grass, her young ones watch her mouth.” There is no doubt that this clearly mirrors our current situation. Whatever we do as leaders reflects on our youth and children.

“As leaders, we must lead by example. We must point the way forward to moral rectitude and civilized conduct, else, we would be sowing the seed of destruction of our society”, she noted.

Senator Kingibe urged Nigerians to count their blessings on the occasion of the National Day of celebration, noting that whatever the situation is presenting, it could be worse but “God in His mercy has continued to hold us together.

“It must be for a reason that we are still standing despite the seeming challenges. The writer, Franz Fanon once admonished that every generation must out of relative obscurity, seek to discover its mission and then, fulfil it or betray it. This is a decision we are all called to make consciously”, she stated.