Vice President Kashim Shettima has pleaded with Nigerians especially the youths to shun the proposed nationwide protests scheduled to begin on August 1, 2024, saying it is time for unity and focused development in the country.
According to him, protest has never been a solution for nations to solve their challenges, but rather an avenue for destruction of human lives and properties, even as he called for peace and unity.
Shettima spoke on Saturday as Special Guest of Honour when the Shehu of Borno, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Dr Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi, gave out four of his daughters in marriage at a wedding ceremony in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Appealing to Nigerians to shun the planned protest, he said, “I want to use this opportunity to call on our people to eschew violence. There can never be development without peace; there can never be peace without development. I wish to implore all our youths not to follow the part of anarchy, of destruction.
According to him, President Tinubu feels the pulse of the nation and remained committed to making the nation’s challenges mostly inherited over the years a thing of the past.
He implored Nigerians “to keep faith with the Federal Government, and in no distant time all of the administration’s efforts at emphatically repositioning the nation as one with the most powerful economy and social welfare for its citizens will become obvious”.
Noting that the masterminds of the proposed nationwide protest were operating from outside the shores of the country, the Vice President asked the citizens to draw lessons from what happened in Sudan, Syria and Libya.
“They are not in this country; we need to learn a lot of lessons from what happened in Syria and in Libya. So, what they are agitating for is a road to Khartoum, what they are agitating for is a road to Damascus, what they are clamouring for is a part to Tripoli, and, Insha Allah, the people of Nigeria will not dance to the tune of these anarchists and saboteurs,” he stated.
The Vice President assured that President Tinubu remains committed to pulling the nation out of the woods, emphasising that the Tinubu administration will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the welfare and lives of Nigerians are improved drastically.
Commenting on the peace that is fully gradually returning to Borno State, the Vice President said, “We have had enough challenges in Borno, in the subregion and the nation as a whole.
“This is a time for unity, this is a time for focused development. And for the people of Borno, I will ask them to rally round our governor who is working tirelessly to address our developmental deficits and also bring succour to the downtrodden.
“The only way we can show solidarity with the governor is for our people to shy away from dancing to the tune of the bandits and idiots who are fomenting mischief from the comfort of Australia, of Finland and the United States – all the so-called social media influencers.”
Shettima who personally gave out one of the Shehu’s daughters’ hand in marriage also wished the couples a most blissful marital life.
Wishing the new couples a blissful married lives, the Vice President said, “We wish them peace; we are wishing them marital bliss. May Allah bless all the unions with offspring that will be the eyes of all the Ummah and of the families. And we believe that, Insha Allah, the marriage will be hugely blessed by the Almighty Allah.”
Deji Elumoye
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