Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo says religious and ethnic discords among Nigerians is a bane on development.
He made this remark at the 55th independence anniversary interdenominational church service in Abuja on Sunday.
He called for collective effort to end insurgency in the country, noting that bomb explosion does not give preference to any regions.
“Our nation is sharply divided and has been divided for long. Our nation is divided along religious divide, is divided along tribal lines but the word of God says in Mathew 12: 35 that a kingdom divided against itself shall be left dissolute, it also says a city that is divided within itself can not stand. It does not matter whether that is a nation or a city.
“I have travelled the length and breadth of this nation, especially in the Northeastern parts in the last few months and I have seen children, women, men who were bomb victims. I have seen the dead, the wounded, the sick.
“The truth of the matter is that the bulk of all those that I have seen, there were Moslems, there were Christians, there were those who professed no particular faith, but were all Nigerians, and one thing that united them was that they were all poor, and in IDP camps.
“When a bomb goes off in Potiskum or in a market in Maiduguri or Gombe, it does not ask if you are a Christian or a Muslim, it does not. It never asks if you are Yoruba or Ibo, or Hausa. The moment we are divided among ourselves, we can not stand.
“We should not create further division, true freedom lies in recognizing the reason why Jesus came to save mankind.”
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan, Bishop Joseph Bagobiri who delivered the sermon at the service which was themed: ‘making Nigeria function as a family: panacea to healthy national integration,’ urged northern leaders and adherent of Islamic faith to make strong statement against Boko Haram as a way of finding lasting solution to insecurity situation in the country.