Ayodele Olalere
Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar lll, and other top dignitaries will, on Monday, January 13, 2020, speak at a conference to mark 50 years of the of the Nigerian Civil War.
The conference tagged ‘Never Again Conference’ is put together by Ndigbo, Lagos and Nzuko Umunna, both Igbo social cultural groups.
Speaking at a press conference, the Chairman, Organising Committee of the conference, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the conference “is to promote nation building, forgiveness, healing, reintegration, stability and national cohesion.”
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“We also want to use the occasion to call for national reflection and encourage building bridges among ethnic groups in Nigeria. War is a horrible thing and anyone who has experienced war would know public conversation is superior to war,” he said.
He added: “The truth about Nigeria today is that we are faced with security threat and unpleasant security environment that resembled what happened before the civil war. We want to let the world know we are in a war situation like before so we need to pull back and move in the right direction.”
On agitation for Biafra by the people of the South East,
Utomi said the issue would be addressed at the conference, saying; “we need to
address things that generate those agitations. It is central to future, peace,
progress and prosperity of Nigeria.”
Other speakers expected at the conference are Prof. Anya O. Anya, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Dr. Nnia
Nwodo, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi
II, and Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, among others.
