Nigerian governors emerged from a trouble shooting meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Wednesday, with a common voice to support and work for a united country where the interests of the citizens are at the center of social, economic and political affairs.
The meeting which is coming on the heels of the ethnic tension caused by agitations and reactions to move by Indigenous People of Biafra to secede from the country if the perceived marginalization of the southeast region is not addressed, is part of the recent meetings held by Osinbajo with stakeholders to douse tension in the country
The secessionist agitations in the southeast fuelled an eviction threat to the Igbo by Arewa youth groups from the north.
Recalling the horror of the 1994 genocidal war in Ruwanda, during which 8000,000 Tutsis were killed in weeks by rival Hutu militias, the governors appealed for calm among Nigerians, stating that they do not want to see the country consumed by hate war.
At the end of the meeting attended by twenty-three governors, four deputy governors, Service Chiefs, Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris, National Security Adviser, Babagana Mungonu and some cabinet ministers, Gov. Abiola Ajumobi of Oyo state spoke to State House Correspondents
He said
“It has been unanimously agreed that the unity of this country is sacrosanct, is non-negotiable and we have all agreed to work together to educate people.
“Anytime you have agitation, usually there will be poverty, there will be unemployment, there will be hardship, so we should address fundamentally these areas of poverty, unemployment and hardship.
”Nigerians are by nature a united people, nobody cares whether you are from the north, south or the east.
“Unity must be there and we cannot play with the unity of this country. The consensus has been that there must be unity.
“The message is for Nigerians to work more together and collaborate. We have more to gain when we are united. We cannot afford to break, and anybody who is thinking of that (he) is wasting his time and we will not allow it, not in this country. All of us are unanimous about that,” he said.
