*Blames the elite for ‘hate-filled agitations Nigeria witnesses
*Warns against misuse of right to freedom of speech
*Sad nation’s elite spent 2 decades on retreat to ethnic, religious camps
He warned against misuse of the right to freedom of speech, saying Nigerians in remaining irrevocably committed to freedom of expression and the tenets of a free press, must draw the line between freedom that conduces to healthy democracy and that which threatens and endangers the democratic enterprise…The acting president said a great deal of the threats facing Nigeria were being nurtured and cultivated in the vast spaces of the internet, adding also that, that elite who were behind the agitations for secession were crying over national cake sharing.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, ruled out the possibility of the return of military rule in Nigeria, saying the nation’s unity was worth preserving and protecting.
He spoke at the graduation ceremony of the 2017 Class of Senior Course 39 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.
Osinbajo, in his speech titled, ‘We Can Build a New Nigeria’, charged the military to devote their resources and talents to new battlefields “where mindless verdicts on the continued unity and existence of Nigeria are daily being delivered.”
“Even though the days of military rule are now well behind us as a nation, the role of the military is still as critical as ever, and not just in the traditional areas of deterring threats and protecting lives and property. The military of the 21st century must realize that it has a role to play in supplying reinforcement to the good side in the clash of ideas that today define the world: ideas of moderation, tolerance and sensibleness versus ideas of extremism, xenophobia, and terror.
“The Boko Haram terrorism is a perfect example of the types of scourges facing the world. The battle is not just to defeat the terrorists, the greater battle is to defeat the ideology and mindset that feeds the madness and to cut off its oxygen, money and publicity,” he stated.
Osinbajo stressed that the nation’s unity was worth preserving and protecting, saying, “We are the preeminent power in Africa today in terms of population, size of our market, natural resources and economy. We are a factor in the geopolitics of the world, no one can ignore a nation state that is home to one in every four black persons. Smaller is weaker, not stronger today.”
Charging the elite to rise above unproductive ethnic and religious sentiments, he said: “We must develop the emotional intelligence required to cope and adapt in a swiftly and constantly changing world. We must adopt a global mindset that seeks to learn from the experiences of other countries, far and near, so that we do not waste valuable time repeating mistakes that we should have learned from and learned to avoid”.
He blamed the elite for what he called hate-filled agitations being witnessed in the polity, emphasizing, “This is essentially an elite phenomenon, unity and disunity are promoted by the elite which the vast majority of the Nigerian people are only later conscripted.”
He warned against misuse of the right to freedom of speech, saying Nigerians in remaining irrevocably committed to freedom of expression and the tenets of a free press, must draw the line between freedom that conduces to healthy democracy and that which threatens and endangers the democratic enterprise.
“It is an important balance that we must strike. Failure in any way will be tragic,” he added.
The acting president said a great deal of the threats facing Nigeria were being nurtured and cultivated in the vast spaces of the internet, adding also that, that elite who were behind the agitations for secession were crying over national cake sharing.
“The last two decades in Nigeria have witnessed the quickened retreat of the Nigerian elite to their ethnic and religious camps. I would like to emphasize the fact that this was essentially an elite phenomenon – unity and disunity are promoted by the elite to which the vast majority of the Nigerian people were only later conscripted.
Osinbajo said the great challenge and the wonderful opportunity for the present generation of the Nigerian elite was to build a new Nigeria.
“Out of the rubble of cynicism, division and suspicions, we can build a new nation. A new nation built on trust, consensus, love for one another and love for our country is possible. A nation where the rulers do not steal the commonwealth, where every Nigerian is safe to live and work, where the state takes responsibility for the security of each and every Nigerian, where the state knows every Nigerian by name and can find and locate each one of us, a Nigeria where the Ibo or Ijaw man can live peacefully in Sokoto, and the Fulani man can live peacefully in the Niger Delta”.
The Commandant of the College, Air Vice Marshall S. A. Dambo, said 187 persons graduated, comprising officers from the nation’s armed forces, the paramilitary and Ministry of Foreign Affairs including 10 international officers from Liberia, Togo, Ghana, Cameroun, Niger, Mali, Rwanda and The Gambia.
