The Presidency Friday declared that Nigerians ought to, in all ways and at all times, embark on activities that promote the oneness and unity of the country.
Speaking when he received in audience, the Black Apple Media Group, a production outfit devoted to making movies and documentaries towards the promotion of unity and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria, in his office in Abuja, the spokesman of the President, Femi Adesina, said the initiative is one that every Nigerian, every good Nigerian, should be happy to hear about and support.
“Anything that will promote our nationhood, that will promote our unity, is something that we should all support and encourage,” he said.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari had always been committed to the unity of the country:
“By age 20, he joined the army, by 25, he was already at the civil war fighting for the unity of this country. Mr President himself has always said it that for three years that the war lasted, he was there throughout, he didn’t go for any break, he didn’t ask for any pass, he was at the war front.”
Mr Adesina narrated how the President trekked from the South-East to a place called Gakem near the Cameroon border, “all these to keep Nigeria one. Do you think somebody like that will sit idle and let some people try to dismember the country?”
The spokesperson said while some of the patriots are still alive, those who fought the civil war, wouldn’t sit back idle and watch the country disintegrate. “Our anthem says the labour of our heroes past can never be in vain. Those were the ones who have fought to keep Nigeria together.”
He reminisced that during his school days, there was no division.
“When we were in school, it used to be Ife – Modakeke Students Union. They merged together, they had one group together, there was no difference, so when that war came, it was strange to us.
“We used to be one, that is how Nigeria was originally, and we didn’t know any difference. You are from here, you are from there, we were all together, all the ethnic groups in the country, there was no difference. To now see some things happening is confounding to us.
“That is why we must commend an initiative like this, anything that will promote unity, that will promote togetherness, that will show the evil of Fake News, Hate Speech is something that will be supported, so I want to assure you that as the Media Office of the President, we will support this initiative.
“All those who are trying to cause commotion, cause disunity, cause dismemberment, I think they just struggle in vain, it will not happen. Nigeria will be together. I want to thank you for coming and for this initiative and you can count on us for support,” he added.
The leader of the group, Mr Andy Chukwu, said his team came up with the idea of the movie project – The Hero, to “tackle the impact of fake news on social media. The movie deals with unity, peaceful co-existence and promotes inter-ethnic marriages. Considering the situations we are now, we can’t need it at any better time than now.”
He hoped that the movie, targeted at people from all walks of life, from the youth, the market women, the captains of industry, will “educate the people on the need for us to stay in peace, on the need for us to stay united, for us to encourage peaceful co-existence. Because there is absolutely nothing that will stop the Easterners from living in the West, or the Northerners from living in the East.”
He expressed the group’s desire to have the movie translated to major languages of Nigeria for a deeper penetration.
Other members of the group were Lisa Onu, David Fiase, Tony Ezimadu, and Nazareth Jesse.
