Prof. Pat Utomi, a former presidential adviser and co-convener of the National Consultative Forum, has stated that Nigeria can only be healed by true leadership and a quest for truth.
Utomi made the statement in response to violence in Sokoto that erupted when a Shehu Shagari Student College of Education student, Deborah Yakubu, was killed for alleged blasphemy.
“The incidents in Sokoto in the last two days have opened a deep wound in the soul of our country. The only thing that can heal this deep gash now is leadership and truth, like the sore in the saying by the founder of the caliphate Uthman Dan Fodio, only truth can heal this one.
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“Our country is truly at a crossroads and no one who fails to take a stand can be considered worthy of the trust of the people.
“As a Nigerian who has grown up Pan-Nigerian in the Northwest, North Central, North East, South West and South-South, and for decades pursued a career in crafting accommodation of one another I recognise clearly that if those who seek power, truly lead, we would not be in this recursive mode of one step forward, three steps backwards. All must now speak up on the future of how we live together. We cannot continue to play the Ostrich,” the statement read in part.
