Sen. Bola Tinubu, National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) has implored Nigerians to forever join in common purpose and strong bond to build Nigeria as a citadel of peace.
The APC leader’s admonition is contained in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
He spoke on the backdrop of Nigeria’s 60th independence, said that Nigerians must unite, be catalysts of prosperity and towers of justice.
The former governor of Lagos also urged all to press onward despite the unique difficulties and challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant economic difficulties.
He said Nigerians should be proud of how they decisively managed the challenges.
Tinubu also commended the Federal Government for its sage actions and the civic responsibility of the people in the way the pandemic was handled.
“Because of you, the fine and patriotic people of this nation, we are better than we were yesterday but not quite as good as we shall be tomorrow.
“Today, let us not just celebrate the political space we call Nigeria.
“Let us celebrate the decent, industrious and kind people who make Nigeria what it is.
“Thus strive with care and passion to bring Nigeria closer to what it ought to be.
“We are a nation and a people fashioned by a unique history.
“We bear no shame, for our history is no better or worse than any other nation, on the face of the earth.
“Thus, we honour and value our independence, because it allows and demand of us, that we assess and define ourselves and our nation as we deem fit,’’ Tinubu said.
He urged Nigerians to cherish the country’s independence so that they might build a society “according to the humane and progressive values that animate us’’.
As one, we are greater and more capable than the sum of our individual parts, he said.
The former governor said Nigeria had “given us a large potentially bountiful home and no power on earth could divest the rights of the people to and in this home’’.
Tinubu noted that the true meaning of independence should be observed in how we treated and related to one another.
According to him, wherever Nigerians may go in the world, they can hold themselves proud.
“Wherever they may be in the world, their one thought is of returning to this fine and outstanding home we now build for ourselves of our own ingenuity, ideas and of our independence.
“As long as this earth stands, may Nigeria too stand as among its leading nations,’’ he prayed.
NAN
