By Seun Adams
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday said that Nigeria is presently at cross roads even as he urged every Nigerian to sacrifice
for the betterment of the country and humanity especially at this Eid al-Adha celebration.
In a statement, he signed which was made available to the media, he said happenings across the globe tell us that the world is in dire need of love and peace. Our dear fatherland, Nigeria is currently at a crossroads.
He said: “Tensions strew our nation and never have we been in dire need of love for our neighbour as today. Thus, my message to the nation as we celebrate Eid al-Adha is that we all have to sacrifice for the good of Nigeria.
“Everybody cannot sacrifice everything for Nigeria, but everyone can sacrifice something for her to move forward from the place of anger, bitterness, distrust and disunity.
“I urge all Nigerians of faith to remember that God made us all Nigerians for a purpose. If He wanted to, God could have made us into many distinct nations.
“But in His wisdom, He made us all into one corporate, indivisible country. We must accept that we are not wiser than our Creator. Therefore, let us perish every thought of dividing Nigeria and focus our energies on reviving our fatherland.”
The former VP said everyone should be willing to sacrifice for future generations of Nigerians who will not even be around to thank us, adding: “The first sacrifice we have to implement is to make Nigeria an equitable society where justice flourishes. Every cry of marginalisation will be silenced when the aggrieved see that there is national assimilation.”
He said further: “If we profess the faith of Ibrahim, we must likewise sacrificially manage our economy in a way that serves not just the present elite’s interests, but the interest of successive future generations.
“Most importantly, at a leadership level, we ought to make sacrifices, the most immediate being to ensure that the fundamental rights of citizenry is respected and not repressed.
“I wish all Nigerians a happy Eid al-Adha. I wish I could be in every Nigerian home to share my Sallah feast with you and your families, but as that is not possible, permit me to send my love into all homes in this country to wish you the best today, tomorrow and forever.”