By Segun Awofadeji in Gombe
Elder Statesman and diplomat, Alhaji Maitama Sule has kicked against the call for restructuring of the country but called for a bloodless revolution to help solve the problems of Nigeria
Speaking in Gombe, Bauchi State on Friday on the topic ‘Restructuring Nigeria: Implications for national unity and integration,’ as part of the activities to mark the 20th year of the creation of Gombe State, he opined that youths should be at the vanguard of the revolution.
According to him, youths were important in ensuring that things changed in the country since they were the vehicles of change. He however specifically advocated that the revolution should be peaceful and similar to that of Mahatma Ghandhi as against Mao Tse Tung’s which claimed millions of lives, though they both succeeded.
“We have problems in this country today, but we will overcome. I can assure you we will overcome.
“But the people that will enable us to overcome are you (the masses), the youths. You are the solution to our problems, you are the vehicles of change, and you are the vanguard of revolution. “I am not calling for a bloody revolution; I am calling for a bloodless revolution. We need re-orientation; change your minds and we can do it.
“We have revolution of the likes of Mao Tse Tung who killed millions of people, but he succeeded. We can have yet another kind of revolution – that of Mahatma Ghandhi who did a non-violent revolution and he was able to succeed.
“Let us do that of Mahatma Ghandhi, we will succeed,” the elder statesman advocated.
He disagreed with those rooting for restructuring of the country, saying God brought Nigerians together for a purpose, which we were yet to understand or exploit.
“People have been talking about restructure in this country, 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, different cultures, and different climatic conditions. “The wisdom in this is this: if we have the culture, wear the same clothes, nobody would want to know about the other because we’ll assume we know each other.
“The inquisitive instinct in us will make us want to know why we are different and in the process, we’ll begin the process of knowing each other.
“We’ve all been brought together for a purpose; God has a purpose for us. The purpose of creating us together is for us to use our differences are to complement one another. “The purpose of creating us together is for us to use our differences to complement one another. Unfortunately, we have been using these differences negatively – not as God wants us to use it.
“The wisdom in this is this: if we have the culture, wear the same clothes, nobody would want to know about the other because we’ll assume we know each other.
“The inquisitive instinct in us will make us want to know why we are different and in the process, we’ll begin the process of knowing each other,” he reasoned.
Maitama condemned the idea of fanning the embers of religious bigotry and urge Nigerians imbibe the spirit of being their brothers’ keeper which was a common injunction in both Christianity and Islam as well as all the religions of God.
He said the problem was either Nigerians failed to understand the practice or teachings of both religions or were hypocritical in their followership, hence quarrelling, fighting and hatred.
