President Goodluck Jonathan says those predicting that Nigeria will disintegrate by 2015 will be disappointed.
Speaking at the State House in Abuja yesterday while receiving a delegation led by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo on Sallah homage, Jonathan maintained that the nation would rather continue to remain one indivisible entity.
He said a Nigeria without Muslims and Christians is unimaginable, adding that the nation’s religious diversity would enhance her development.
Jonathan, who asserted that Nigeria was not yet exploiting her diversity because of the myopic views of the elite about the nation’s situations, said as brothers and sisters, Muslims and Christians must live together.
Describing yesterday as a unique day, the president called on the Muslim faithful to continue to pray for peace, not just in Nigeria, but all over the world.
According to him, for Nigeria to develop and move forward, there must be peace and security as no investor would go to an unsecure environment.
The president, who reassured that his administration would do its best to reposition the country, noted that the youth could only develop mentally and use their brains to turn around the economy only in a peaceful environment.
His words: “Let me congratulate all our Muslim brothers and sisters from Nigeria and indeed all over the world for going through this tempting period in the holy month of Ramadan that the Qur’an was revealed to humans. Sometimes when you’re not involved in fasting, you’ll think it’s an easy thing to go through.
“Let me use this opportunity once again to reassure Nigerians including Muslim brothers and sisters that the VP and myself and our entire team will do our best to reposition the country. For us, we can’t imagine a Nigeria without Muslims and Christians. You can call it another name, but not Nigeria. So, it’s a blessing that this is one country where we’ve significant population of Muslims and Christians, and this religious diversity will enhance our development because we can get across the whole world and be accepted. That helps us in so many ways,” he stressed.
The president bemoaned that Nigeria is not even exploiting her diversity because of the myopic views of the elite about situations.
According to him, Christians and Moslems are brothers and sisters and must live together and those who are predicting that the nation will break-up by the turn of the century when Nigeria will be celebrating its centenary anniversary, will be disappointed because Nigeria will continue to remain one indivisible entity.
Vice President Sambo described Jonathan as a good leader and father of the nation, and prayed for the sustainability of his transformation agenda while urging Nigerians to continue to support him.
Source: DailyTrust
