B; TINA PHINEAS, Yola.
Nigeria has been described as a country on its way to becoming a nation, as a result of the existing ethnic, tribal and religious divide.
A former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who made this disclosure while speaking to newsmen maintained that the unity of Nigeria goes beyond seeing each other as Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa.
“When you go to Europe no one cares which language you speak or where you come from, you are just a member of the black continent, an African”, the elder statesman stated.
Tukur observed that, it is unfortunate some people have employed religion, tribalism and ethnicity as a weapon to divide the country.
“We must fight tribalism, ethnicity and religious divides, we must not allow our country to be divided along ethnic and religious lines, I grew up in this house with people of different ethnic backgrounds and religion, and won elections as the governor of the then Gongola state, because, I was able to convince the people of what I was going to do for them if they elected me, you need to convince people of your competence from your party manifesto and not cause ethnic and religious divides”, he disclosed.
On the incessant herders/farmers conflict the elder statesman said, Nigerians need to wake up and face reality.
“To the Fulani man, his cattle is worth life, so he will never take his cattle into someone’s farm because that will breed trouble and it would cost him his cows”.
Tukur believe that, there are people dressing up like Fulani going about killing, maiming and wrecking havoc on the Nigerian people.
The former governor of defunct Gongola state however challenged Nigerians to stand up and make government accountable to the people.
Hear him, “There is always a difference between the menu and the meal, the menu consist of every imaginable thing that could make a good food but the meal is what you get at the end of the day on the dining table.
“We have a responsibility to start asking questions, you have this on the menu, that on your menu, but the meal you are serving us does not reflect what is on your menu,” he said.
