As the nation marks the 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN has reiterated the need for Nigerians to, as a mark of honour for the sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces, show more commitment to the unity of the nation and the task of building a better society.
Prof. Osinbajo, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, stated this Sunday at the Interdenominational Church Service to mark the 2021 Armed Force Remembrance Day Celebration, held at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.
According to the Vice President, “drawn from all across the country, these brave men and women of the Armed Forces have made our nation proud and their lives show us what it means to be patriots. Each one of them remind us of the timeless words of our national pledge: ‘to be faithful, loyal and honest, to serve Nigeria with all our strength, to defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory’.
“It is to the memories of these heroes and heroines who fought, to preserve the freedom of the nations of the world from totalitarianism in the First and Second World Wars; to keep our Nation and its peoples as one in the Civil war; who laid down their lives in peacekeeping operations on the continent and elsewhere; who paid the ultimate price in the fight against the mindless terrorism in the North East; and in defending this land from other threats to security, that we pledge in the words of our National anthem that “the labors of our heroes past shall never be in vain”.
Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo noted “that promise that their blood, spilt on the field of battle, will not be wasted, is the burden that we, the living, bear.
And it is an onerous one indeed.
“It means that we must commit to ensuring the unity of our nation, that regardless of the tensions on account of differences in politics, religion and ethnicity we are stronger together than apart.”
Emphasizing the need for all citizens to always strive to preserve the sacrifices of fallen heroes especially their efforts in building a more progressive society, the Vice President said that “we must at every opportunity insist that every great multiethnic, and multi-religious nation has through thick and thin fought to realize the great dividends of diversity and pluralism. And that the struggle to ensure a more perfect federation is a lifelong enterprise to which each generation must resolutely commit.”
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