Emerging report indicates that the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, who hails from the South-East region of the country, took passengers by surprise when he preached peace and unity of Nigeria, on board a Lagos-Abuja flight.
The Lagos-Abuja flight 7120 was operated with the Airline’s wide-bodied Boeing 777 aircraft, which had over 300 passengers on board.
He said: “We must not lose hope in our country. Our diversity is our greatest strength”, Onyema said on Wednesday.
Coming at a time of ethnic tension and agitation for secession across the country, Onyema restated that Nigerians must consistently embrace peace, and see the country’s diversity as a source of strength.
He said that Nigeria is better off as one indivisible nation, stressing that, balkanising the country is not the solution.
His words: “Nigeria is for all of us. The bigger Nigeria is the best thing ever that can happen to Nigeria. We do not need to balkanise this country; we do not know what we have got having this country called Nigeria. Our diversity should be our strength and not our albatross.
“The diversity we have is the best thing that can ever happen to this nation. Let us make it work; let us stop engaging in blame games. Let us stop engaging in the stigmatisation of ethnicities, let us work as Nigerians.”
Speaking further, he stated that the United States of America, USA, is a conglomeration of people from diverse nationalities, who worked together to build a great nation.
“America is the melting point of all ethnicities in the world. You have Igbo America, Fulani America, Yoruba America, and Anglo American from England, from Russia also, and all over the world. Yet when they get the passport, they profess America.
“However, in my country, with all our capacity, the first thing we profess is our ethnicity, I am an Igbo, Yoruba, I am Hausa. Can we stop this?
“This country can be better than it is. It is not the fault of government, it is not your fault; it is the collective effort of all of us that can make it work not just government alone.
“I want you to have hope in your nation; do not lose hope. Do not feel that the worst has come to happen. We have passed through this stage before, let our diversity be our strength and this country will remain great.”