President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday condemned hate messages and eviction notices to ethnic and religious groups.
Buhari, according to a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, asked Nigerians to take pride in the fact that the nation’s diverse people had been living with one another in harmony for ages.
“The right of all citizens to live and work in any part of the country is a constitutional right and will be defended by the government,” he said.
Buhari reiterated that he and his administration had taken note of the grievances of the people and had shown a clear determination to take all necessary measures to address the complaints, stressing that the violence must stop.
He said peace, brotherhood and inter communal harmony were central to the country’s ethos, urging Nigerians “not to turn against one another in hate.”
According to the president, it is important that the police and other security agencies move everywhere to restore calm and normalcy as quickly as possible.
A leader of a group called Young Yoruba for Freedom, Adeyinka Grandson, who resides abroad, was said to have, in a viral video, urged all Igbo to leave Lagos within 48 hours or face dire consequences.
But the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, in a statement yesterday by its leader, Pa Reuben Fasonranti, had Saturday evening, asked people to ignore the quit notice, saying Afenifere knew nothing about the video nor its producer.
“The most embarrassing to me as the leader of Afenifere was that the young man who made the announcement kicked off with the well-known tune of Afenifere anthem, thus giving the impression that it was the Afenifere’s initiative.
“This is to say that we do not know anything about the quit order nor are we in any way connected with its issuance nor its initiators. For the time being, in addition to our other releases, let us all maintain peace,” Fasoranti had stated.
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, had also denounced the video asking Igbo indigenes to quit Yoruba land.
Meanwhile, President Buhari also yesterday broke his silence on the shooting that occurred at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos last week.
Buhari said he had all along avoided going into a debate about the Lekki Toll Gate incidents until all the facts were established.
He appealed to the people all over the country to maintain peace and brotherhood as the machinery of the government and the wheel of justice turn against the perpetrators of murder, arson, stealing, rape, assault and malicious damage to public and private property.
He expressed optimism that the judicial panel of inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government, which starts sitting today, would assist the nation to give justice to peaceful protesters who lost their lives, security men who were murdered and property owners whose assets were vandalized and looted.
