Osinbajo To Meet With Northern Traditional Rulers Today

This is in continuation of talks by the presidency to douse the ethnic tensions recently culminated by a northern youth group that asked Igbos to leave the Northern part of Nigeria.

The meeting was initially slated for Monday, but was postponed till today.

The acting president who received the monarchs yesterday had thanked them for their maturity and the kind of leadership displayed.

He, thereafter, hosted the traditional rulers to Iftar (breaking of fast) at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Osinbajo said, “Let me first say how honoured I am by the visit of all of your royal highnesses today for this Iftar. And just as you (Sultan of Sokoto) said, it involved a bit of movement back and forth; the Sultan just arrived this morning from a trip abroad and he is still able to make it here.

“So, I am really grateful for your consenting to come to join us at this Iftar but also to wait till tomorrow despite the plans that you may have made.

“Our nation requires the kind of maturity, the kind of leadership that you have displayed and I want to thank you for that leadership and for that maturity.

“It is heartwarming to know that we have leaders especially traditional leaders, who are prepared to make sacrifices, who are prepared to make concessions and compromises for the good of our nation and I want to thank you for that great leadership.

“In particular, I want to thank the Sultan for always being there, for always being ready to offer advice and in many times to offer an alternative view to what might appear to be the popular view and I am extremely grateful to you for all of that support.”

A statement by Laolu Akande, senior special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity further confirmed that both Muslim and Christian traditional rulers from the north would be participating in the consultations tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) with the acting president.