TheCable

Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says “differentiation and stigmatisation” will not help the progress of the country.

Speaking with journalists after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers, Tinubu said Nigerians must dedicate themselves to the growth and prosperity of the country.

The former governor said citizens must make sacrifices “to really have our prayers answered.”

“Differentiation and stagmatisation is not going to help the country at this stage of our life as a nation. What today teaches is all about sacrifices that we all must make, to really have our prayers answered,” NAN quoted Tinubu as saying.

“No one was able to dictate to whom he would be born to, how you would be born and where he would be born. We are proud Nigerians and that is what should be paramount.

“Let us be proud of our country, dedicate ourselves to the growth and prosperity of our country.

“Yes, if we say things are hard, it means we will  work harder to make it better, not to destroy what our founding fathers have done and put together in the spirit of one nation and one destiny.”

He also urged Nigerians not to forget the part of the first stanza of the old nation’s national anthem which says: “Though tribes and tongues may differ, in brotherhood we must stand.”

On his part, Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos, said the country is in a time it needs to unite.

“This is the time to come together in the spirit of the season,” he said.

“This is the time to sacrifice, to get behind our leaders and to come together among ourselves to build our country and make it what we expect it to be.”

Also speaking, Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos, said Nigerians must live together in peace.

“The imam had said it clearly: it is enough of all these killings. It is enough of these kidnappings and it is enough of all the bad things,” he said.

“So, if anybody says Allah Akbar and you kill somebody, it’s either you are insane or you don’t understand Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.

“So, the message to all Lagosians and to Nigerians is that we must live peacefully. All the religions–Christianity, Islam preach peace. We should live in peaceful environment.

“So, the fundamental thing is peaceful co-existence among all of us whether Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo or whatever. All of us are Nigerians. We must live in peace and we must unite as a people.”