Ita-Giwa, Ojikutu, Other Prominent Women Call For Peaceful Co-Existence, Unity

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

As Nigeria celebrates its 57th Independence anniversary, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, on behalf of concerned women and mothers of Nigeria have lend their voices to the many passionate appeals advocating unity, peace and progress in the country.

Speaking on the state of the nation at a press conference in Lagos recently, Ita-Giwa, alongside other prominent Nigerian women, expressed alarm at the recent agitations for the breakup of the country from certain quarters.

According to the former distinguished senator, “the founding fathers of Nigeria bequeathed a united and virile country to us. It is our most cherished desire and in fact, our scared duty to do same for the generation that is coming after us.”

She noted that employing inciting words and denigrating others in speeches for the dubious purpose of gaining relevance have grave repercussions and therefore appeal to all such persons to stop forthwith.

“We want to caution these misguided advocates of secession to tone down the rhetoric. It is obvious that these people never experienced the last civil war and so have no knowledge of the consequences of war. No nation on earth has ever survived two civil wars. As mothers and grandmothers, we stand resolutely for the unity of Nigeria,” said the influential woman fondly called Mma Bakassi.

Ita Giwa, however said without prejudice to the advocates and opponents of the restructuring debate, the women call on the federal government to review all past reports on the subject in order to mitigate the issues that provoke the agitations.

“Conferences and committees had been set up in the past to look into critical areas of our national existence, we believe it will be prudent to look into them and distill a viable and reasoned way forward for us as a nation,” she noted.

At the media meeting were other women from all works of life, professionals in various fields, business women and traders who all have a stake in the economy. They all gathered under the auspices of “Nigerian Women For Peaceful Coexistence And Unity”.

Also contributing, Mrs. Sinatu Ojikutu, former Lagos State deputy governor, expressed concerns on the delay in the implementation of the national budget which she believes has the effect of stifling the economic activity.

According to her, since the government still remains the major catalyst of economic activity in the country, the prompt execution of the budget will go a long way in stimulating the economy.

“The poverty and hunger in the land is palpable and as mothers, we bear the brunt more than the others. We take no joy in seeing our children hungry and unemployed, thus leading them to a life of crime,” Ojikutu said.

In her contribution, Mrs Kafilat Ogbara, a media entrepreneur and politician said the new women group is a non-political and religious body set up to unify the country.

According to her, the women came together to reecho the rallying call for a united Nigeria during the dark days of the civil war which said; “To keep Nigeria One Is A Task That Must Be Done”.

She then also called for an heightened vigilance on the part of everyone at a time like this when a few Nigerians are bent on destroying the legacy of a united Nigeria bequeathed by the country’s founding fathers.