Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said at the weekend that the unity of Nigeria could not be negotiated for personal or individual interest.

He stated this while playing host to the editorial board and Anniversary Planning Committee of Penpushing Media at his Presidential Library in Abeokuta residence, Ogun state.

He said Nigeria should see its ethnic and cultural diversity as a source of strength, adding that Nigerians should emphasise on the nation’s common identity, value and interest in order to achieve a great nation.

Obasanjo added that nation building should be anchored “on the bedrock of what binds the various entities that make the nation together, strengthen and focus more on common identity, objective, values and interests.”

Obasanjo, according to a statement by Kehinde Akinyemi, his media aide, also called on the journalists to always be objective in their reportage and avoid reports that could plunge the nation into crisis.

The former president said: “The media practitioners are supposed to be servants of the people and if they stop to be honest servants of the people, then there is no sane society. The media is supposed to bind, not separate people, the people’s interest, opinion on security, national issues should be bound together as a nation where whatever happens in Badagry should concern someone in the North just because they are bound with one interest as a nation.”

Funke Fadugba, chairman, Editorial Board of Penpushing, said the essence of the visit was to pay homage to the former president and intimate him of the programmes of event for the second anniversary of the organisation.

She said the anniversary lecture with the theme, “The Media and Quest for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in Nigeria,” would to be delivered by Ronald Kayanja, country director of the United Nations Information in Nigeria….

July 9, 2018 @ 09:16 GMT|