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President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua yesterday said that his administration would carry all Nigerians irrespective of tribe or religion along because they all have equal stake under his government.
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The President also told the Primate of the Anglican Church and President of the Christain Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola, who paid him a courtesy call at the State House Presidential Villa that he would do his “best with the absolute fear of God.”
Also yesterday, leaders of Yoruba in the South-west faulted the alleged domination of northerners of the cabinet of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua adding that recent appointments of key officers were lopsided.
According to President Yar’Adua, “we will work equally for all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or religion. We will do all that is humanly possible to serve Nigeria selflessly,” adding that he has the unwavering belief that Nigeria was a nation under God’s guidance and control.
“Nigerians have a lot of faith and belief in God, and this is acknowledged all over the world,” the President added.
He consented to Archbishop Akinola’s request for close consultation with the leadership of the Christian Association, assuring him that “we will provide opportunities for consultations on major national issues. We will seek your support to educate Nigerians on major issues, so that the nation can move in one direction”.
President Yar’Adua also said the Administration would set up a joint consultative committee of Christian and Muslim leaders to advice on major national issues.
On the Aso Villa Chapel, the President welcomed plans to continue worship there, “it was built for worship, so it will be used for that purpose, with the Vice President attending Sunday worship there.”
He said he looked forward to meeting the leadership of the CAN in the near future.
Speaking earlier, Arch Bishop Akinola had said all Christians were supporting the Administration and were praying for the success of the President’s programmes as enunciated on May 29, 2007.
“All points you raised in your inauguration speech were statements of intention, but we have turned them into prayer points in all Churches nationwide, for God to enable you execute them”, he stated.
The Yoruba elders criticized the appointment of northerners as the Chief of Staff to the president, Head of Service from the North, Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority from the North, National Security Adviser from the North, and also Secretary to the federal government from the North by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The group led by Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi while addressing newsmen in Lagos yesterday said the step Yar’Adua took in his appointment was spell clear danger for the Yoruba and Southerners in particular and the federal republic of Nigeria.
He said the ruling party’s Chairman and Yar’Adua are already from the North, the Chief Justice of the federation is a Northerner, and the position of the Senate president was zoned to the north as well, asking that does it mean that leadership of the three arms of government at the federal level is in the hands of the north.
According to him “this is a wake-up call to our Yoruba kinsmen in the South-west and our cousins in the South-south, North-Central and in the Diaspora. We cannot leave fire raging on our rooftops and continue in indifferent slumber”.
He said the Yoruba people and all democrats viewed the appointment of Amb. Baba Gana Kingibe as Secretary to the government as an ill-advised indifference, insensitivity and insult to the collective sensibilities of Nigerians.
He however urged Nigerians to press for the release of all detained ethnic nationality agitators currently held for whatsoever reasons, adding that freedom should be granted to Asari Dokubo, Ralph Uwazuruike and their followers currently languishing in detention.
He added that only such a move by the federal government will pave way for national health and quell the crisis in the Niger Delta.
Speaking further, he said the current constitution of the country is faulty, saying that no one can get justice under the present arrangement that is more Unitary than Federal in nature.
He stressed that the country must hold a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), adding that the SNC’s terms of reference would be able to fashion out a brand new Constitution for the country through no-holds barred discourses and debates on the ties that currently bind, threaten or divide the ethnic components in the Nigerians nation.
Those in attendance included Chief Frederick Fasheun, leader of Odu’a Peoples Congress (OPC), Prof. (Mrs.) Bolanle Awe, Prof. (Mrs.) Sophie Oluwole, Chief G.O.K. Ajayi (SAN), Chief Tola Adeniyi, among others.
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