Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has told President Muhammadu Buhari that ensuring free and fair general elections and restoration of peace to the troubled geo-political regions in the country are the best legacies he can live for the country.
Wike also commended efforts by the President at defeating Boko Haram insurgents and bandits terrorising and destroying parts of the country.
He spoke, yesterday, at Government House, Port Harcourt after wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration at Isaac Boro Park.
Wike said: “I commend our President, Muhammadu Buhari, for his sustained efforts at defeating the Boko Haram insurgents and bandits terrorising and destroying our communities in parts of our country. The restoration of peace to our troubled geopolitical regions and the conduct of free and fair general elections are the best legacies you can live for our country.”
The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, noted that after the civil war broke out a few years after independence, the armed forces were forced to quell the ensuing rebellion, which ended after three gruesome years of internecine warfare.
He added that ever since then, there is hardly a year when members of the armed forces have not been assigned to one bloody combat mission or the other within or outside the country.
The armed forces, he said, have also been at war with Boko Haram and other armed insurgents in the North-West and North-East of the country for over 10 years, and the “unknown gunmen” in the South-East of the country.
“As leaders, our goal must be one Nigeria, one destiny, and the challenges of building a fair, inclusive and just society are not beyond us. Therefore, I will not relent in my prayers to God to enable Mr. President and other leaders of our country to succeed in our mission and commitments to our country.”
Wike said a grateful country honours her armed forces’ extraordinary bravery and courage during their service and the sacrifice of their families for the common good.
The governor maintained that the country must move beyond today’s courtesies, speeches and parades to consider the families, including the innocent women and children directly devastated and thrown into untold hardship by the death or incapacitation of their breadwinners at the battlefield.
Rivers State Chairman of Nigerian Legion, Justice Chichi, commended Wike for the extraordinary kindness, which the Rivers State government has always shown towards the welfare and support of veterans and the families of fallen heroes.
