Nigeria cannot survive if our people merely tolerate each other – Ex Speaker Dogara

By Ahmed Ahmed

Ex- Speaker House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has declared that Nigeria cannot survive if citizens merely tolerate each other.
He stated this at the two day peace and development submit organized by Sultan Maccido institute for peace and development University of Abuja recently.with the theme peace and development in Nigeria : the pragmatic approach.
“I have made the point before that Nigeria cannot survive if our peoples merely tolerate each other.
“Our happiness cannot be the other groups’ unhappiness. Our strength is not and will never be in our numbers but in our unity.
“When we are United, we ll be strong and when we strive to keep our bond and remain undivided, we will be invincible,” he said
He added that “This is what should concern every patriotic Nigerian at the moment not schemings for future elections.
He reitrated that all efforts of patriotic citizens must be geared towards stopping our dear country from the ongoing death by a thousand cuts.
Dogara pointed out that Nigeria most immediate problem is the dangerous drift of Nigeria into chaos and anarchy.
“Apart from the rabid insecurity plaguing the nation, there are real or imagined charges of ethnic cleansing and domination of some sections by a certain section.
“Attacks are unrelenting and there appears to be no end in sight. The situation has clearly gotten out of hand.
“Following the repeated overrun of military formations by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, wanton killings and kidnap for ransom and mass abduction of school children in different parts of the Country,” the ex-Speaker stressed.
According to him, we all know that the North bears nearly 90% of the insecurity brunt of the country.
“If estimates are anything to go by, not less than 50,000 northerners have been killed while over 3 million have been displaced in the Northeast alone.
“No one has the record of Northern lives lost to rural banditry, the famer-harder clashes and ethno-religious conflicts.
“The number grows exponentially when we add to this, death occasioned by urban violence unleashed by an increasing army of mostly jobless youths suffering from substance use disorder,” he said.