26 March 2016 | EASTER MESSAGE TO THE NATION FROM PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
Fellow Nigerians,
I rejoice with you all, especially our Christian brothers and sisters, as we celebrate Easter.
For Christians all over the world, this celebration is in
commemoration of the supreme sacrifice which Jesus Christ made for the
salvation of mankind.
The Gospels also tell us that during his earthly ministry, Jesus
Christ repeatedly urged his disciples and followers to “love one another
as I have loved you”.
As we celebrate Easter this year, I sincerely believe that it will
serve our dear nation very well if we all imbibe this essential message
of Jesus Christ and truly learn to love our countrymen and women as we
love ourselves.
Indeed, we will surely make faster progress towards the achievement
of the peaceful, united, strong, progressive and prosperous country we
all desire if, as a nation, we eschew all divisive, parochial, ethnic
and religious sentiments and rivalries, and begin to live more
harmoniously with our compatriots, as Jesus Christ and the founders of
the world’s other great religions enjoined mankind.
Our unfortunate notoriety in recent years as a country where the
blood of men, women and children are wantonly and callously shed in
frequent orgies of criminal, political, ethnic and religious violence
has become very embarrassing and utterly unacceptable.
My administration is determined to achieve greater peace and security
across our nation by ending the avoidable conflicts and crises that
hinder our national progress.
I ask for greater support from all Nigerians in this regard. We must
put a stop to politically motivated killings. Our communities must be
made safe again for all inhabitants to live together in peace and
harmony.
Our armed forces, police and other security agencies are being
progressively reformed, repositioned and empowered to win the war
against terrorism and make mass killings, abductions and other criminal
atrocities things of the past in our beloved country.
Let us all also play our parts as patriotic citizens and do all that
we can to ensure that we make Nigeria a safer, more peaceful and happier
place for its people and others.
Faith, belief and the fulfilment of expectations are also key themes
of the Easter celebration. I urge you all therefore, to continue to have
faith in the future greatness of our country and to believe that the
CHANGE my administration promised will surely come to fruition.
That CHANGE, which we all yearn for, will certainly occur more
rapidly if we all place the love of our country above selfish personal
and group interests.
The National Assembly has just passed the 2016 budget. I assure all
Nigerians that we will do our utmost best to ensure that the budget, the
first since my election as President, is efficiently and successfully
implemented towards achieving our objective of faster economic growth
and development.
I thank the vast majority of Nigerians for their patience and understanding in the first ten months of this administration.
As we go forward, I assure you all that we are working very hard to
overcome the challenges we encountered on assumption of office.
We are moving on with an unshaken resolve and determination to deliver on the mandate you gave us on March 28, last year.
I wish you all very happy Easter celebrations.
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