NIGERIA AT 100: DON'T TAKE OUR UNITY FOR GRANTED - ATIKU

By Emmanuel Aziken

On the occasion of the country’s centenary, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, called on Nigerians not to take the continued unity of the country for granted even as he cautioned against distractions that could impede the future prosperity of the nation. Atiku, in his centenary message to the country, urged Nigerians to look above the structural fragments that divide the nation, saying that the victims of the ineptitude leadership were neither divided by ethnicity, tribe nor religion.
He lamented that 40 years after the civil war, the country’s leaders could still be playing ethnic and religious games to gain power. He said: ”As we mark the centenary celebration of the amalgamation of the Lagos colony with the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British Colonial occupier forming one country, Nigerians need to pat each other on the back for we have truly come a long way. However, we must redouble our efforts towards building a stronger and more united Nigeria rather than concentrating energies on division or breakup.

”The recent clamour by some of Nigeria’s leaders for a renegotiation of the continued being of Nigeria are dishonest and an unnecessary distraction from the future that we can build. Such leaders need to concentrate their efforts on tackling the challenges ranging from lack of security to addressing poverty and unemployment through infrastructural investments. “The victims of structural ineptitude are not distinguished on the basis of their ethnicity, tribe, religion or region. It is also a truism that both the perpetrators and their victims are Nigerians, and secession will not fix these woes. Rather, if our leaders devoted more energy to dealing with these basic challenges facing the ordinary Nigerians, ethnic and religious differences would have sunk to the background as people are able to focus on opportunities available to them.”

PEOPLE'S COMMENTS ON OUR NEW "ANGEL" ATIKU

abide73

Since i was born till today i never tasted peace,love or unity in Nigeria.This sudden peace and unity from which market do Nigerians buy it ? Injustice cannot breed peace and unity.Only justice and equal right can yield sustained peace and unity.What we have in Nigeia today is it peace and unity?Its only through national discussion or conference Nigerians can find peace and unity if we really need it.Then decide the way forward,to be or not to be one .The time to pretend is over.Nigerians cannot live in false pretence forever.Marriage is not by force.If Nigerians had a shared future together, ,then they must discuss the terms. It happens in families too.The man or wife has the right to divorce if not satisfied but they must,first talk to find a way forward..People should forget their personal interest,the lives of innocent Nigerians are on the line here. Its too dangerous to live in false pretence.

gamma energy

It would be nice for all these present day apostles and champions of unity to tell us when they had their conversion, and, most especially, why. Diehard separatists suddenly made a 180 degrees in favour of one Nigeria, and even had to shed blood to achieve their aim. The same criminals have not done a thing to achieve real unity, and have not done a thing to develop the country. They have instead done everything possible to keep us divided and backward. Whenever they say that Nigeria's unity is not negotiable, they make fools of themselves. They thrive in this country because nobody, not even the press takes them to task on their sudden metamorphosis, and mostly, the contradiction between their so called pro One-Nigeria and their actaul anti One-Nigeria policies.
It is obvious that our size and diversity should be a huge advantage, and it would serve us well to remain a united country. In reality, however, these clowns are not the patriotic champions they claim to be. Their parochial agenda will not achieve one strong Nigeria. Their fake policies have outlived their usefulness. After 45 years of paralysis, it is time to replace their backward structure with a functional one. I will take Akitu and his fellow clowns seriously when they accept their blunder and articulate real unity agenda. Until that happens, they should hide their faces in shame for the mess the made of the system.

Smithken

Don’t take our unity for granted” Are are you saying, Mr. Atiku that from the bottom of your heart, Nigeria is united? With all these killings of innocent citizens, Igbos, Yorubas, Ijaws, Igaras, Tivs etc. in the North, you are convinced that we are united. “Atiku, you lamented that 40 years after the civil war, the country’s leaders could still be playing ethnic and religious games to gain power.” Turaki, which other ethnic or religious group is demanding that power should return to its base if not the North. “As we mark the amalgamation of the Lagos colony with the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British Colonial occupier forming one country, Nigerians need to pat each other on the back.” Atiku Abubakar, do you mean that the man you ordered Boko Haram to kill his entire family will come to pat you on your back? ”The recent clamour by some of Nigeria’s leaders for a renegotiation of the continued being of Nigeria are dishonest and an unnecessary distraction from the future that we can build. Atiku Abubakar, you come all the way from Adamawa to steal the oil under my feet and the feet of my kinsmen and women, and we beckoned on you that we have to talk and you call such request dishonest and an unnecessary distraction? Distracting who from what? “The victims of structural ineptitude are not distinguished on the basis of their ethnicity, tribe, religion or region and secession will not fix these woes. Atiku Abubakar, apart from the North that oppresses other regions under the structural ineptitude as you rightly mentioned above, which other regions are not victim of the said imbalance? Well I think I have to reserve further comments until we come out of the National Conference.

ODI ODI

Atiku, beneficiary of the lasting corruption in the contraption, crying out because he knows the time has come to fight for his loot and privilege. They keep exposing their warped and corrupt thought. Is Unity by Force? Don't people have the right to decide if they want to stay together or not? Why this unity by force propaganda? Unity of the exploiter and the exploited, the oppressed and the oppressor, Killer and the killed; Unity of Boko Haram and their victims; Unity of Criminal Northern Islamic Jihadist genocidist Oligarchs and their oppressed and daily massacred Christian neighbors; Unity of being violently sacked from certain areas people like Atiku claim is one's country or be killed. In fact the sacking comes with mass murdering. Unity in which the individual is safer in a foreign country. The contraption actually ended by the fraudulent document that created it, the next will be to put those arms you have smuggled across the northern borders to use and equally face its consequences.

MatthewsI

Politicians never cease to amaze me with their dexterity at maintaining split personality syndrome. They could sponsor issues that may engender disaffection and strife on one hand, while, on the other, be seen proffering solutions to those problems. In their mind playing games, they have sent lots of hapless citizens into untimely graves. Hear him: "...victims of the ineptitude leadership were neither divided by ethnicity, tribe nor religion." Ironically, these are the same issues - ethnicity, tribe and religion – applied as veritable tools by these same "inept leaders" in tearing the nation and the populaceapart. Remember, you cannot deal hard blow on a child and at same time expect him not to cry. There could be validity in some of these agitations. It is thus left for astute leaders, as opposed to the inept ones, to sift veracity from illusory. “A stitch in time,” they say, “saves nine.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/nigeria-100-dont-take-unity-granted-atiku/

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