Osinbajo: It’s abnormal to undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty out of frustration

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo says it is not normal to engage in hateful conduct capable of undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty out of frustration.

He said although everyone is entitled to have grievances, there’s no justification for violence and discrimination.

Speaking during his Democracy Day broadcast on Monday, Osinbajo noted that all Nigerians are equally important.

He said that no individual or group of persons can be said to be superior to others in the country.

“As we all daily preoccupy ourselves with pursuing the Nigerian dream, which is the desire to better Nigerians’ lives and circumstances vigorously and honestly, it is inevitable that grievances and frustrations will arise from time to time,” he said.

“This is normal. What is not normal, or acceptable, is employing these frustrations as justification for indulging in discrimination or hate speech or hateful conduct of any kind, or for seeking to undermine by violent or other illegal means the very existence of the sovereign entity that has brought us all together as brothers and sisters and citizens.

“Nigeria belongs to all of us. No one person or group of persons is more important or more entitled than the other in this space that we all call home. And we have a responsibility to live in peace and harmony with one another, to seek peaceful and constitutional means of expressing our wishes and desires, and to resist all who might seek to sow confusion and hatred for their own selfish interests.”

The acting president called on Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to regain his health and strength, as well as his safe return from the United Kingdom.

Osinbajo added that the nation “is on a journey of greatness, and together we shall arrive at the destination of our dream”.

The acting president highlighted some of the successes of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, one of which is the strides made in the war against insurgency.

He said: “The positive results are clear for all to see. In the last two years close to one million displaced persons have returned home. 106 of our daughters from Chibok have regained their freedom, after more than two years in captivity, in addition to the thousands of other captives who have since tasted freedom.

“Schools, hospitals and businesses are springing back to life across the Northeast, especially in Borno State, the epicentre of the crisis. Farmers are returning to the farms from which they fled in the wake of Boko Haram. Finally, our people are getting a chance to begin the urgent task of rebuilding their lives.

“Across the country, in the Niger Delta, and in parts of the North Central region, we are engaging with local communities, to understand their grievances, and to create solutions that respond to these grievances adequately and enduringly.

“President Buhari’s New Vision for the Niger Delta is a comprehensive peace, security and development plan that will ensure that the people benefit fully from the wealth of the region, and we have seen to it that it is the product of deep and extensive consultations, and that it has now moved from idea to execution. Included in that New Vision is the long-overdue environmental clean-up of the Niger Delta beginning with Ogoni-land, which we launched last year.

“More recent threats to security such as the herdsmen clashes with farmers in many parts of the country sometimes leading to fatalities and loss of livelihoods and property have also preoccupied our security structures.

“We are working with state governments, and tasking our security agencies with designing effective strategies and interventions that will bring this menace to an end. We are determined to ensure that anyone who uses violence, or carries arms without legal authority is apprehended and sanctioned.”