Osinbajo urges Nigerians to eschew secessionism and separatism as God ordained her to be great

VICE president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has urged all Nigerians eschew the growing separatist agitations and challenges to the unity of Nigeria asking them to instead channel their energies and resources towards building a great nation.

Speaking yesterday while representing President Muhammadu Buhari at a feast in commemoration of the Eid-El Kabir celebration in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Professor Osinbajo said it was time citizens stopped promoting talks on the division of Nigeria. He added that all Nigerians should rather concentrate on how the country will attain the level God has designed it to be.

Professor Osinbajo said: “Our energies and resources shouldn’t be spent again on the debate about division. Our manifest destiny is to be a great nation, not to be a nation where we are talking about division, so we must focus our time, our energies and our resources on being that great nation that God has called us to be."

He further described Nigeria as a great nation, blessed with human and natural resources which he said some other nations of the world had to embark on a long journey to see. According to the vice president, the country is so blessed to the extent that people hold the opinion that one of every four or five black persons in the world must be a Nigerian.

In addition, Professor Osinbajo insisted that it was time to put paid to protracted controversies which characterise Nigeria’s experience, insisting that the nation is a country ordained by God to remain eternally united. He emphasised that Nigeria was so rich both in human and natural resources to the extent that God conceived it to be a honey pot to other African nations which he said would have to depend on Nigeria to survive.

“I am one of those who are extremely confident that our nation will remain united because I am convinced that God’s plans and purpose for Nigeria are that we would be the preeminent black nation in the world. This is a nation that will show forth in culture, in technology and in commerce, God’s investment in the black race, which is why today, some people say out of four blacks, some say five, one must be a Nigerian.

 “That nation that God has in mind is a diverse nation, diverse in resources, in ideas, in opinions, kind of nation that we have, where there is an argument about something everywhere. Before you get tired of that lone argument, another one arises and before you finish with that one, there is yet another one," Professor Osinbajo added.

Arguing that he was confident that Nigeria would never disintegrate, Professor Osinbajo said God designed the country to be a pre-eminent black nation that is rich in culture, commerce and technology. He added that God also planned that this country will remain together and that Nigeria will be a nation that is gifted just as she has oil, gas, and the most arable land space than most continents.

Reflecting on the essence of Sallah and its application to Nigeria today, Professor Osinbajo challenged Nigerians to cultivate the spirit of the sacrifice made by Abraham when he willingly prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Explaining that Abraham expressed his willingness to make that sacrifice because he considered it a necessity to fulfil his own destiny, the vice-president said, even so, all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious and ethnic leanings, must realise the necessity to make sacrifices that will help the country attain its own destiny.