President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said that Nigeria would not disintegrate but would continue to remain a united nation.Jonathan gave this assurance in Abuja, while speaking at the inter-denominational church service held to mark the 2013 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration at the National Christian Centre.
“The best gift Nigerians can give to the armed forces and the sister organisations is for us, in our daily utterances and activates, emphasise the need to live in peace, love ourselves and unite .
“Some people talk about the disintegration of Nigeria; even at the political level, some people take it as weapon when they want to discuss politics.
“My conviction and, I believe the conviction of everybody here, is that Nigeria will continue to remain a united nation,” he said.
Jonathan, however, warned that if the country’s political, community and religious leaders “talk more about things that divide us, instead of things that unite us, they would be creating problems.
“Then, we will be encouraging the younger ones, who know little about the history of this country, to do things differently and conduct themselves in a way that is clearly anti-social,” he said.
“Nigeria will not disintegrate; anybody who is doing any research in psychology or sociology or political science can do its work but Nigeria will continue to remain one,’’ he added.
The president urged Nigerians to stand up and condemn those who had dissenting opinions about the country’s unity and those calling for its disintegration.
“As a country made up of great citizens, when we work together, after the governments play their role and the citizens also play their roles; surely, we will get to where we want to go.
“Today, we remember our fallen heroes and the work which our armed forces and other security services have been doing.
“The best gift we can give to them as a people is to pray for them and in our daily activities; we should also preach love and unity,” he said.
Jonathan said that if Nigerians exhibited love for each other, lived in peace and laid more emphasis on the unity of Nigeria, some of the challenges currently facing the nation would be neutralised.
Sermon was delivered by Rev. Supo Ayokunle, the President, Nigeria Baptist Convention. In attendance at the church service were Senate President David Mark, the First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, ministers, legislators, military officers, the clergy and members of the Nigeria Legion. (NAN)
Nobody is praying for Nigeria to disintigration. What Nigerians are saying is that Governance should be a platform to impart positively in life of the poor massess. Your policies and program should impart in the life of the common man on the street, forget about 2015 and let Nigeria deside.