Nigeria@62: Senate President urges Nigerians to remain resolute in defence of national unity

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has urged Nigerians to remain resolute in the defence of national unity and promote fairness, justice and peace.

In his message to Nigerians on the country’s 62nd Independence anniversary, Lawan said the National Assembly would “continue to work for good governance and to strengthen our bond as a nation.

“The Almighty God in His infinite wisdom brought us together in our diversities. He has also preserved our Union despite the challenges that we have encountered in nation-building and socio-economic development since our Independence in 1960.

“I salute fellow Nigerians for the resilience of our faith in our country in the face of those challenges.

“This precious faith in Nigeria and the lessons we continue to learn from our errors and triumphs will help us in building the great and prosperous nation that is our desire and destiny.

“On this day as we remember the labour of our heroes past, I urge us as a people to remain resolute in the defence of our unity, the pursuit of national prosperity and the promotion of fairness, justice and peace for the benefit of all our people.

“We have subscribed to democracy as our preferred form of Government. We should therefore nurture it patiently for the development of our country and the good of the present and future generations of our people.

“On our watch, your National Assembly will continue to work for good governance and to strengthen our bond as a nation.

“It is with these objectives in mind that we have passed many critical laws in the ninth Assembly. Some of those legislations had defied passage for many sessions. But we broke the jinxes, passed and got them signed into law.

“As we approach another election cycle, I implore our political actors to carefully weigh their words and actions towards ensuring peaceful electioneering as well as free and fair polls, in line with what is clearly emerging as a legacy of this Administration. We should be issue-based in the campaigns and avoid hate speech and violence.

“We are proud that we in the ninth National Assembly have provided the nation with an electoral law that has tremendously strengthened the electoral process. The law will make our votes count and promote confidence in the credibility of the process.And we shall continue to support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver credible elections.

“Our Armed Forces and other security agencies have, in recent times, made encouraging progress in the fight against insecurity in our country. They need the support of us all to sustain the tempo and up the game in their patriotic efforts, until security is restored to all parts of our country.”