By Gift Samuel
Abuja- With the recent rise in hate speeches from different ethnic groups in the country, a former Nigerian Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana has stressed the fact that all is not well with the country,as he appealed to Nigerians to shun hate speeches.
This is as he called on the federal government to embrace dialogue as a sustainable way of addressing the rising ethnic tensions in the country, adding that it is totally unnecessary to generate hate speeches as it signals doom and disunity for any society.
Gana who disclosed these on Thursday in Abuja at the launch of the Africa Study Bible, tasked the government of the day to seek practical ways to build a country that is acceptable by all Nigerians,stressing that government cannot force people to be united without addressing their needs and grievances.
According to him,‘’I want to take this opportunity to speak to the government of today because if the truth is to be told “all is not well with the Federal Republic of Nigeria” and more effort must be done to unite the country.
“In a democracy, dialogue is the way, discussion, debate and understanding, you cannot create a society by force, you create it by understanding, two people cannot walk together except they agree”.
He emphasized that any society that deserves to move forward in terms of growth and development must embrace peace, as division and hatred is not only distractive to a society but also to individuals.
“Let me take this opportunity to appeal to all Nigerians, whatever may be the challenges, difficulties, and what we see as unfair, we must not introduce this horrible language of hatred that is mobilizing our people to contention” he said
While recommending solutions to the current agitations, the former Minister called on President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to consider and embrace the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference report.
