Acting President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday urged state
governors to resist the temptation to play politics with security in view of
the agitation for Biafra and the quit notice some northern youths gave the Igbo
resident in the region.
This was just as Osinbajo and the governors agreed at a
meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja that Nigeria’s unity is
sacrosanct.
Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi told State House reporters
that the meeting agreed that “The unity of this country is sacrosanct. We
agreed to address the issues of poverty and unemployment; we cannot play with
the unity of this country.”
Speaking, while meeting with the governors, Osinbajo also
asked them to eschew narratives that might originally be expedient and satisfying
but deceiving and unhealthy in the end.
He said, “Sometimes, intentions are perceived on the account
of the fact that they have wrong perception about a particular thing. I think
it is in our place to ensure that we dig down the fact and ensure that people
are given the fact and ensure that we don’t colour them with politics.”
The acting president also appealed to the governors to speak
more forcefully against divisive speeches and promote the nation’s democracy.
Osinbajo, who said there were attempts to play up fault
lines and create tension in the country, noted that conflagration and war, all
over the world, starts with words.
The acting president stressed that the federal and state
governments must ensure that Nigerians live peacefully anywhere in the country.
The governors in attendance include those of Sokoto, Kano,
Osun, Oyo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Borno, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Benue,
Plateau, Kogi, Edo, Lagos, Kebbi, Ondo, Imo, Taraba and Anambra States.
By Isiaka Wakili
