Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Sule has disclosed that Nigeria must undergo bloodless revolution before it can reclaim its leadership position in Africa.
Maitama Sule said this while presenting a keynote address on Saturday, in Gombe, as part of the activities marking the 20th anniversary of the state.
The Dan Masanin Kano who spoke on “Restructuring Nigeria: Implications for National Unity and Integration,” criticized the older generation for not utilizing the country’s abundant resources.
He urged the young generation to change the fate of the country by organizing a revolution and re-engineering the mindset of the people.
“We have problems in this country today but we shall overcome. The youth are the panacea to our ills, the solution to our problems, vehicle of change and vanguard of the revolution. I am not calling for a bloody revolution; I am calling for a bloodless revolution, reorientation, change of mind. And we can do it.
“We can have a revolution like that of Mao Tse Tung who killed so many millions, but he succeeded. We can have yet another type of revolution, that of Mahatma Ghandi who did a non-violent revolution and he was able to succeed. Let’s do that of Mahatma Ghandi, we will make it,” he said.
The former ambassador condemned those calling for restructuring of the country stating that: “People have been calling for the restructuring of the country, allow the country to go its way. I don’t pray for that, I don’t believe in that. It is not for nothing that God has put us together, different tribes, cultures and different climatic conditions. We all need God together, He has a purpose for us.”
He dismissed claims that differences in religion was behind the crises experienced in the country, stressing that proponents of such theories “either do not understand the teachings of their religion or we deliberately refused to practice what we have been taught.”
He alluded from both the Qur’an and the Bible to buttress his point that the two religions in the have the same goal; to love one another in the worship God, “the mode of worship may differ but the objective is the same,” he said.
“God wants Nigerians to unite, to understand one another because of the role they are to play in Africa, Nigeria is to play the role of leadership in Africa, to inspire blacks all over the world. Unless we enjoy peace at home, unless we love and respect one another, we shall lead nobody.”