Terrorist bombs never ask the question about the religious persuasion of
\nits victims or their ethnic origins, before causing havoc and destruction,
\naccording to Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.<\/p>\n
The Vice President spoke today at the church service marking the country\u2019s
\n55th Independence Day coming up later in the week on October 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have travelled the length and breadth of this nation, especially in the
\nNortheastern parts in the last few months and I have seen children, women,
\nmen who were bomb victims. I have seen the dead, the wounded, the sick.<\/p>\n
Continuing he said \u201c the truth of the matter is that the bulk of all those
\nthat I have seen, there were Moslems, there were Christians, there were
\nthose who professed no particular faith, but were all Nigerians, and one
\nthing that united them was that they were all poor, and in IDP camps\u201d
\nProf. Osinbajo recalled asking Nigerians to stand together against
\nterrorism and poverty.<\/p>\n
He added that \u201cwhen a bomb goes off in Potiskum or in a market in
\nMaiduguri or Gombe, it does not ask if you are a Christian or a Muslim, it
\ndoes not. It never asks if you are Yoruba or Ibo, or Hausa.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vice President urged religious and political leaders to emphasize only
\nwhat unites the people of Nigeria not what divides them. According to him
\nleaders \u201cmust understand that the terrorism is not a contest between
\nChristians and Muslims, it goes well beyond that. It is our duty not to
\npursue narratives that divide us. It is our duty to do everything that
\nunites us. We must ensure that we don\u2019t create further divisions, but that
\nwe bind together those divisions, that is our duty.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lamented that Nigeria has been divided against ethnic and religious
\nlines for far too long, calling for a time of unity. \u201cThat unity is so
\ncrucial, so important. It is all that will make a difference in the next
\nfew years,\u201c he stated.<\/p>\n
One of Nigeria\u2019s major problems, he argued is that \u201cwe would play politics
\nwith everything, but the fate of over 110 million extremely poor Nigerians
\nhave not been the central concern of anyone.\u201d He said it is the fate of
\nthose vast majority of Nigerians who are poor that should be our concern
\nas a people.<\/p>\n
He also expressed deepest condolences to the families of Nigerians who
\nlost their lives in the Mecca stampede tragedy praying that God will
\ncomfort them, and their communities.<\/p>\n
Praying that at 55, Nigeria will experience double grace, since number
\nfive stands for grace, the Vice President also wished Nigerians a time of
\ndouble favor in their personal lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Terrorist bombs never ask the question about the religious persuasion of its victims or their ethnic origins, before causing havoc and destruction, according to Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n