{"id":23514,"date":"2026-08-23T16:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=23514"},"modified":"2026-08-23T16:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:26:42","slug":"hamzat-oshiomhole-shekarau-advocate-stronger-national-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/hamzat-oshiomhole-shekarau-advocate-stronger-national-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamzat, Oshiomhole, Shekarau Advocate Stronger National Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026Urge Nigerians to Shun Ethnicity, Religious Bigotry<\/b><\/p>\n

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, has emphasised the need for Nigerians to make deliberate efforts to build a stronger national identity that transcends ethnic, religious and cultural differences.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the 7th National Discourse, themed \u201cInterrogating Nigeria\u2019s Democracy in the Context of Multiple Diversity,\u201d held at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Hamzat stated that the country\u2019s political system must find effective ways to accommodate its diverse identities without allowing them to undermine national unity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to him, ethnic and religious identities remain deeply rooted in the country\u2019s social and political life, and the challenge is not to eliminate those identities but to prevent them from becoming instruments of division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question that sociologists have not told us is how we marry our culture and democracy without losing our identity and putting it into our democratic setting. And I think that will be the issue for us. As Nigerians, we must learn to accommodate our differences while also promoting a common national identity. The experience of other multi-ethnic societies has shown the dangers of allowing identity and class differences to fuel conflict among us,\u201d the Deputy Governor said.<\/p>\n

He advocated greater religious tolerance and adherence to the core teachings of Islam and Christianity, urging citizens to respect the faith of others rather than use religion as a basis for discrimination.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHamzat emphasised the importance of culture in strengthening national unity and enjoined Nigerians to preserve their cultural heritage while building a common identity.<\/p>\n

In his keynote address, Senator representing Edo North, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, called on Nigerians to shun ethnic and religious divisions and build a nation where leadership is determined by competence, ideas and values rather than place of birth or religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

He added that ethnicity and religion should not be used as tools for political mobilisation or to shield leaders from accountability.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The senator opined that Nigeria\u2019s diversity should be regarded as an asset capable of driving national development rather than a source of division, noting that in a society where citizens are treated fairly irrespective of ethnicity, religion or place of birth, there would be national development.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ethnicity shouldn\u2019t be a source of challenge. It should give us all of the things that we need to be the greatest country, not only in Africa but in the world. This ethnicity is very dysfunctional. Nobody should be rewarded or punished on account of an accident of birth. Ethnicity has very little or no role to play, except to function as a tool in the hands of a segment of the political elite who substitute ethnicity in place of ideas,\u201d Oshiomhole said.<\/p>\n

While urging political leaders and citizens to embrace a broader sense of Nigerian identity, the senator said the country\u2019s abundant human and natural resources could make it one of the greatest nations in Africa and the world if properly harnessed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Chairman of the Occasion and former Governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, called for greater religious tolerance and understanding among Nigerians, saying there was no justification for religious conflict in a country where citizens, regardless of their faith, are all creations of Allah.<\/p>\n

Mallam Shekarau admonished Nigerians to deepen their understanding of the teachings of their respective religions, noting that all faiths promote values such as love, kindness, justice and respect for others. He emphasised that if Nigerians genuinely practised the teachings of their religions, the country would be a better place to live, adding that religious differences should not be allowed to fuel conflict or division in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Identifying consultation, fairness and respect for divergent views as essential principles of politics and good governance, the chairman cautioned political leaders against pursuing personal interests at the expense of the people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Earlier, in his welcome address, the National Amir, The Companion, Imam Noreem Jimoh, stated that the event was convened to critically examine the challenges confronting Nigeria\u2019s democracy within the context of its diversity. He urged Nigerians to critically interrogate the country\u2019s democratic journey and seek practical ways to make it work more effectively, particularly in managing the nation\u2019s ethnic, religious, cultural and regional diversities.<\/p>\n

Imam Jimoh added that Nigeria\u2019s enormous ethnic, linguistic, religious, cultural, regional, economic and social diversity remains both a source of strength and a major challenge to nation-building.<\/p>\n

He noted that while the country\u2019s diversity gives it significant potential, its effective management remains critical to the success of its democracy, stressing that the ability of the democratic system to accommodate and harness these differences was one of the key issues the event sought to address.<\/p>\n

In his lecture, themed \u201cNigeria\u2019s Political Landscape and the Ethno-Religious Divides: Interrogating Nigeria\u2019s Democracy in the Context of Multi-Diversity,\u201d former Director-General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Prof. Liasu Adele Jinadu, identified ethnicity as a major factor that has shaped Nigeria\u2019s political development since colonial times, particularly through the country\u2019s ethno-regional political structure and multi-party system.<\/p>\n

According to him, political elites have exploited ethnic identities to establish patron-client relationships and secure political support, thereby weakening state institutions and undermining the autonomy of government. He argued that ethnicity has consequently been used to mask issues of political impunity, corruption, patronage and the abuse of political power.<\/p>\n

Prof. Jinadu, therefore, charged that citizens must be empowered to participate meaningfully in governance, irrespective of their ethnic or religious identities, maintaining that the denial of economic and social opportunities, transparency, protective security and other basic freedoms prevents citizens from fully exercising their rights.<\/p>\n

He therefore called for a political system that places citizenship, human security and human development above ethnic interests, in line with the principles of Nigeria\u2019s 1999 Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026Urge Nigerians to Shun Ethnicity, Religious Bigotry Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, has emphasised the need for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23521,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions\/23521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}