Prof. Osinbajo Advocates For Nigeria Void Of Discrimination, Marginalisation

Prof. Osinbajo stated this, today, during the 50th Anniversary of the Nigerian Civil War, held at the National War Museum, in Umuahia, Abia state’s capital, stressing that Nigeria needs to build a nation with a glaring fairness, equity and justice.

Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says that the present administration of President Mohammadu Buhari is bent on building a new Nigerian nation devoid of any form of discrimination and marginalisation.

The second in command of the federal republic of Nigeria charged the people against hatred and the use of weapons, insisting that “we must build a nation devoid of any form of discrimination and marginalisation. It is the ideal kind of country. We must eschew this struggle of weapons, bitterness, bigotry and hatred and choose to a country that we want”.

He described the 1967-1970 civil war as a defining Natioinal tragedy, adding “a catastrophic conflict that scarred us as a people”, as he urged participants especially the elders to endeavour to acquaint their young ones with the effects of war and abstain from any action that could result in same, warning them against its aftermath effects.

“It’s not just to build a nation but ro build a successful nation, an onerous and difficult ones. For justice, fairness and equity, for all ethnic ones. We must be mindful that the majority of Nigerian are young to witness the war”.

“We stand in the shallow of one of the darkest chapters of our nation’s history.
This is neither the time nor the place for rehearsing the justifications claims and contemplates about the remote and immediate causes of the war. There are already many scholarly publications, histories, biographies and some brilliant works of fiction that have been devoted to this issue and likely so yet a nation must always examine itself and reflect on its journey.

In his speech, the host, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu recounted economic development has become a tradition in Rwanda despite the genocide that took place in the area which he likened to Nigeria’s experience but wondered why the latter had utterly failed to emulate them.

He regretted that the leadership of Nigeria had made deaf ears to the need to restore the lost glories of affected areas especially the South East, as he appealed to the FG to give priority to the rehabilitation of dilapidated infrastructures in the area, which he lamented was consequent on the civil war.

Earlier on in his remarks, the Converner, Sen. Ken Nnamani, lamented the presence of some indelible scars of what he described as serious bombardments in Umuahia and Aba, the commercial hub of Africa, as he implored the FG to grant special consideration to areas that were drastically affected by the war, saying “we need special consideration so that we can fix our roads”.

Contributing, Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo state stressed the need for Nigerians to embrace peace among themselves, as well as become apostles of same.

“I think we have no other choice than to embrace peace and not only to embrace peace but also to become apostles of peace. The war rendered us homeless, we suffered malnutrition. The focus should be how to establish natioinal integration, how to toll the path of peace”, he added.