Imo State Governor and the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha has said that as Nigeria celebrates her 55th independence anniversary, Nigerians should stop focusing on religious and tribal differences.
In a press statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha emphasized the need to embrace our peace, unity and harmony as a nation.
He said “At 55, Nigeria as a nation and Nigerians as a people should begin to see the unity of the country as a development that has become indelible which should also encourage the citizenry to think less about tribal and religious differences and think more about the harmony and progress of the nation.
“Nigerians should equally begin to take the wordings of the National Anthem and the National Pledge more seriously than they had ever done before. The truth is that the wordings of the National Anthem and the National Pledge should stand as the creed of all Nigerians of goodwill. The National Anthem should not be seen and treated as an ordinary music and the National Pledge shouldn’t be seen and recited as an ordinary poem. Their wordings call for a sober reflection on the part of Nigerians.
“As a matter of fact, at 55, Nigerians should also grow beyond ethnic war songs. Hence, ethnic associations and groups beating ethnic war drums should put a halt to that. Even the quest for sovereignty by some zonal or ethnic bodies should also be dropped, since such tendencies have no meaningful contribution to make to the unity, development and prosperity of the nation.
“What is expected is that all hands should be on deck to build a Nigeria of our collective dream where freedom, peace and unity abound, and where the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain.
“It is also important that Nigerians leverage on the 55th Independence Day event to pray for the leadership of the nation at the moment and the leadership at the state levels, and also pray that the lofty desire of President Muhammadu Buhari to rid Nigeria of corruption should produce the needed result.”