The need for Nigerians to put aside ethnoreligious differences and collaborate as brothers for peace and peaceful co-existence which will lead to even development has been stressed.
The call was made by the immediate past Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Anayo Okorocha while in Bauchi on Saturday where he was honoured by the Tijjaniya Islamic group for his philanthropy across the country.
He said that, with peace and peaceful living, Nigeria as a nation can be better than what it is now 60 years after Independence saying, “we are not there yet as a nation though we are doing good we can do better to get to the point we want to be.”
On the recent controversy surrounding the Almajiri system in the North, Rochas Okorocha berated the way and manner the issue was handled saying that, “it is not the fault of these children that they were born into Nigeria, we should rather look for a better and dignified way to treat them as human beings.”
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The Senator added that “The Qur’anic education should be integrated into Western education so that they will be learned in the two ways so that they can become better leaders tomorrow. We owe them a duty of a better life as Nigerians”.
He assured that the recognition by the Tijjaniya group will spur him to do more within his ability saying that, “nothing is too much to do for the good of the country. We need each other to make progress as a nation, religion should not be a barrier to our togetherness as a people”.
Fielding questions from Journalists at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Rochas Okorocha believe that the agitation for a South East presidency is only reasonable because according to him, the North – West, North-Central, South-West and South-South have all had a shot at the presidency, it will not be out of place to have a South-Easterner particularly from the Ibo extraction as President of Nigeria.”
He explained that the agitation can be seen as a competition by the South – East to be equal with other subregions of the country stressing that, “all we need is a President who will work for the common good of the country not minding where he is from.”
The former Imo State Governor also said that there is nothing wrong with borrowing to finance the budget provided everything in the budget will be implemented assuring that the National Assembly will continue to play its oversight function of ensuring that the right things as regards budget implementation was done.
Rochas Okorocha was later decorated as the ‘Jagaban Talakawan Nigeria’ (Leader of the Nigeria Talakawa) by one of the children of leader of the Tijjaniya Group, HAMID MAHI NYASS.
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