” Gideon Arinze in Enugu
The younger brother of late Nigerian President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Abdulazeez Yar’Adua, has insisted that Nigerians must look beyond their differences and pursue unity in order to deal with the rising insecurity and other challenges currently affecting the country.
Yar’Adua also stated that elites and stakeholders across the country have a critical role to play in ensuring that the much-desired peaceful co-existence is attained.
He made the appeal in Enugu last weekend at the birthday celebration of the traditional ruler of Ibagwa Nike Kingdom, HRM Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu.
Yar’Adua, who is the Mutawallen Katsina, said: “We must concentrate on loving one another than fanning the embers of disunity, because mankind is one.
“I am from the North. But here I am today, being loved by people in the South. Other Nigerians must learn from this. We are the only ones who can solve our problems, because we have been brought together as a country by God for a purpose.”
He noted that what is required to achieve the noble objective highlighted is the level of understanding among Nigerians regardless of their religious and socio-cultural differences.
“We must do away with everything that divides us as a country,” Yar’Adua, who was bestowed with the traditional title of Akajiugo 1 of Ibagwa, said.
On his part, a renowned philanthropist, Arthur Eze, said the current security and socio-economic challenges facing the country are the creation of the political elites, who have failed to bury their ethnic and religious cleavages to work in harmony.
Eze, who donated N100 million for the socio-economic development of Ibagwa kingdom, called on Ndigbo to love their northern counterparts and work with them to achieve their desires in the country.
“Forget these politicians creating problems everywhere; the North made me what I am today… we (Igbo) must be with the North, without the North we won’t have peace,” he said.
