Governor Hope Uzodimma on Friday kicked against the calls for the balkanization of the country by separatist movements in some parts of the country.
Governor Uzodimma spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while fielding questions from State House reporters after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The governor, who expressed his disposition to a more united indivisible Nigeria no matter the current circumstances prevailing against the nation, said Nigeria’s strength laid in its diversity especially as the country continues to play a leading role on the continent.
He said secession would whittle down the country’s strength while reacting to a question on the cacophony of sectional and ethnic crisis rocking some parts of the country.
He said: “I don’t think that I will support any call for secession, I want a united, strong Nigeria. Our strength is in our diversity and today, we are supposed to play a leading role in this continent.
“We don’t want to whittle down our strength. Rather, what I advise is that we must appreciate the gift of nature, in our land and support the government.”
Uzodimma said that the citizens should be more concerned with the issues of job creations and infrastructure development among others, rather than dwelling on inane issues.
“Let me tell you something, this country is blessed by God. From 2015 till today, I thought what the problem would be is people saying that there’s no job creation, people are not feeding, salaries are not paid, infrastructure are going down, social interventions are not approved by government.
“Now, people are no longer talking about that, rather what they are doing is to sponsor crisis, to the extent that those funding this banditry are politicians, which I challenge and call on security agencies to make their names available to the press because what they want to do is to distract a government that is focused.
“If this government is not doing well, I’ll be one of those that will declare the government as not doing well, but a situation where you’ll live the formal way, ethical way of doing politics, and you are now sponsoring banditry to bring down a government, for Christ’s sake, we should rise up and condemn it, all of us.”
He also called on the opposition to partner the administration to facilitate development programmes for the people generally, stressing that only ‘an enabling environment’ could make those things realistic.
He said: “For those things to function, we need an enabling environment. That is why the enemies, not deterred by the progress the government is making, are now out to scuttle good governance.
“Opposition and politics are about the people. Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people. Why are people hiring people to kill the people? There is no responsible government that will not want those who voted him or her to power to be happy and this government I have seen is a responsible government.
“However, I think we are rising to the occasion. I can tell you that sooner than later, today will become a thing of the past and Nigeria will move forward.”
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