Mark, minister, APC, others seek unity, renegotiation of nation’s coexistence

Former President of the Senate, David Bonaventure Mark has urged Nigeria’s political class to review critical issues aggravating agitations, ethnoreligious conflicts, and insecurity in the country.

He said such concerns include restructuring, unemployment, income inequality, imbalance in the distribution of social amenities, perceived marginalisation, and inadequate infrastructure, among others.

In his message to Nigerians on the sidelines of Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary celebration, Mark stressed that the roadmap to genuine development remained the need to identify and genuinely address the ills militating against the country.

Also, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Musa Bello, enjoined residents of the FCT to continue to work towards the unity and togetherness of the country for the benefit of all.

Bello, who made the call in his address to mark Nigeria at 60, stressed the need for residents to continue to strive to project the values that have kept the country together.

He described the FCT as the symbol of Nigeria’s unity, adding that the burden to exemplify this symbol rested on the FCT residents.

On his part, Chairman, Saura Mutane Bauchi State, and grandson of the late Prime Minister, Abubakar Bili Tafawa Balewa, said those who are seeking disintegration of Nigeria have got it wrong.

Speaking with The Guardian in Bauchi, yesterday, Bili, who is the leader of the good governance, fairness, and justice forum, said, “I think we have all got it wrong if Nigeria breaks up, do you think it will split into only three or four entities? No way! It will break into pieces.”

In its message to Nigerians, the All Progressives Congress (APC) enjoined them to work towards ensuring the unity and progress of the country, adding that they should reflect on where the country was, where it is now and where it ought to be in future.

But, a Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement in Kano, Aminu Abdulsalam, scored President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration below average in the last five years, describing it as the worst Nigeria has had since independence.

SIMILARLY, the Southern Nigeria, Middle Belt and Northern Minorities Forum (SONAIMBF), advocated a renegotiation of the corporate existence of the ethnic nationalities to ensure peace and harmony in the country.

In a statement by Sidney Imobhio, after their meeting in New York, the United States (U.S.) and made available to journalists in Owerri, Imo State, the group faulted the lopsided provision of basic infrastructure in the South where most of the nation’s resources are generated, but appropriated at the centre, insisting that the arrangement must be reviewed.