Yemisi Izuora
The Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, has joined forces to condemn the secessionist and separatist agitations by some groups in the country.
The Forum said that these sundry factional groups, claiming to represent different ethnic nationalities are out to sow seeds of disunity and promote secessionist agenda in the nation and thus unanimously rejected their activities in all intents and purposes.
Acknowledging the richly diverse heritage of Nigeria as a country, the PGF particularly notes that the resurgence of desperate youth groups promoting ethno-regional identities and extremist positions from the different geo-political zones across the nation as currently experienced is a reflection of prevalent weak governance, economy and law enforcement system in Nigeria.
“The challenge before us as Nigerians, therefore, is to commit ourselves to the unity of the country. We must create by all means necessary, a country that we can collectively call our home, irrespective of tongues and localities. This is a vision the APC as a party is committed to lead and for which the PGF is unapologetically and intrinsically loyal.These threats to national unity must cease totally and put away into history.
While acknowledging that as a nation, we do have challenges, PGF believes that the resolution of those challenges rests with the development of our democracy and with it, the ascendency of structured processes of national consultations, negotiations and invariably agreements. Some of the challenges are highlighted in the accompanied PGF Position – There has to be a Nation First. As Governors elected under APC, we will work with our party leaders, the Federal Government and all Nigerians who are committed to democratic development all parts of the country to ensure the unencumbered protection of lives of all citizens in every part of the territorial boundary of our nation” it said in a statement.
The PGF called for the rise of Decent Voices across the country to speak up against the upsurge of some desperate irredentist movements across all ethnic groups and support the emergence of a stronger and virile unified Nigeria for us all.