President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, yesterday urged Nigerians to emulate the country’s founding fathers, especially their indomitable spirit.
Senator Mark, who made this call at a special church service to mark the 52nd independence anniversary at St Mulumba’s Catholic Chaplaincy, Apo in Abuja yesterday, said the founding fathers envisaged a united, peaceful and a prosperous nation in 1960, and craved for a country that would be economically and politically strong, a leading force on the continent.
“What went wrong along the line is akin to a deviation of the set goals because subsequent leaders did not toe the same path. It is time Nigerians, both the leaders and the led, agree to reinvent the wheel and redirect our steps in the right path,” he stated.
The Senator President noted that everyone’s cooperation was imperative because government and the governed needed to be on the same page for progress to manifest, even as he reiterated that unity, commitment to the ideals of nationhood and love for one another were essential for nation building.
Earlier in his homily, the priest, Rev. Father Innocent Jooji, had called for peace, unity, love and reconciliation between and among ethnic and religious affiliations in the country.
Father Jooji noted that Nigeria was founded on the basis of peaceful coexistence because she achieved political independence on the basis of a united front.
According to the priest, “We got it through the unity and resolve of the people without losing lives or shedding blood. It is therefore ironic and shocking that most Nigerians have become hostile to one another. We must therefore go back to the good old days and learn to live together without hindrance or molestation to one another.
“We are one people under one God; we must respect the freedoms of one another, including freedom of worship without fear. Even our constitution recognizes that Nigeria is a secular state where freedom of worship is upheld.