We are one people, so why fight?

By Sunday Ogidigbo

An ancient poet once said “God that made the world and all things therein, made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and determined their times and the boundaries of their habitation”. Put simply, we are one people, whether we are black or white. We know from medical and scientific evidence that the blood and organs of a man can work in a woman and bloods once donated and banked don’t have tribes or religions.

Every day from the North to the South, East to West, we all buy and sell in the same market, experiencing the same economic realities. Majority of us go to the same public schools; Christians and Muslims, although we speak different languages, we share the same space, learning how to find our ways in this world. We see across thousands of private organizations, Nigerians from all class and strata of society working together to build Nigerian Businesses and brands. Dangote, Zenith Bank, GTBank, and Oando that are fast becoming global power houses, in these settings religion and tribal sentiments end at the door.

We are glad to have the Super Eagles among the teams in Brazil 2014. We the people expect nothing but the best of success and by default expect our best eleven to play per time without any consideration for tribe, our religious persuasions. It is always a delight seeing fellow Nigerians sing the praise of our players when they do well. Vincent Enyeama is our safest hands right now, I don’t think we care what geopolitical zone he is from. The eleven players must play as a team for them to go far in the tournament. In the same sense all of us must work as one nation. We the citizens of this great country must consciously invest time and energy building the things that unite us and not in our differences.

We must not dance to the rhythm of the drum of war coming from the camps of politicians, religious extremist or haters of our commonwealth. It is a fact that, we cannot stop anyone from drumming or singing, it is however within our power not to dance or sing their song. Another undeniable fact is that the top 10 per cent are united in their quest to steal all they can, can all they can and send the cans overseas. These people threatening our national existence have homes abroad, their children and wards live and school abroad. A number of them hold dual citizenship or alternate passports and they are the owners of the ever increasing numbers of private jets. If things go wrong they have the means to relocate to any nation of their choosing within minutes.

History teaches, that the bottom 90 per cent especially the women and children in this number bear the brunt of any form of socio-political instability worse of which is any form of war. For indeed what we call war is the bottom 90% killing themselves while the top 10 per cent sit around the table talking and drinking miles away from the theatre of war. My father a war veteran once told me that “the people that start wars hardly fight them, suffer in them or die in them”.

We must be minded that our suffering has been a collective one, in other for us not to allow it to be multiplied on us; we must urgently strive for peace, everyone with his neighbour. We must not allow the newspaper war and the all the antiques among the political elites and parties cascade into a monster that will further consume our fathers, husbands, brothers, mothers, wives, sisters or children.

We must remind ourselves that we are one people under God, under one flag with a common destiny. More than ever before, we must unite as one man, for the God that made us from one blood multiplies his goodness and prosperity wherever he sees unity. Let us do it for friends and families. Let us do it for peace and posterity. Let us do it for our children and their children’s children. Let it be said that we sided with unity and justice when the occasion called. The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain. God is on our side.

Sunday Ogidigbo is the Lead Pastor at Holyhill Church, Abuja. He microblogs@sogidigbo.