Chief Olabode George, a former Vice-Chairman (South West) of PDP, has described? Nigeria’s? former President, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, as a “nationalist that represented the unity of the country“.
George made the statement in Lagos on Friday while delivering the16th Dr Nnamdi Azikwe Day lecture, which had the theme,? “Dr Nnamdi Azikwe and the Unifying Factor“.
The annual lecture was instituted to celebrate the life and times of Azikiwe, who was the first president of Nigeria.
“But what is even much more in this great man was the unifying thematic essence of the first president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is indeed impossible to talk about the Zik of Africa without invoking his vast accommodating largeness, without polishing him in the deserved luster of a total, uninhibited nationalist.
“The great Zik of Africa who spoke Yoruba with effortless grace of a native speaker maintained a life-long relationship with an abiding coterie of very close lieutenants who were mostly Yorubas.?
?“His pursuits were predicated upon the unity of the Nigerians, “ George said.
Also speaking, Chief Dede Odumegwu-Ojukwu, described Azikiwe as a “man that bestowed developmental features on the people of Nigeria“.
Dede,? son of the late Ikemba Chukwuemeka-Odumegwu-Ojukwu, urged Nigerians to use the lecture as a vehicle for global peace.
The occasion was attended by Eze Hyacinth Hazuruike,? Eze-Ndigbo of Lagos, Chairman PDP in Lagos State and Chief Bayo Selewu among others.
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