A Call to Every Nigerian: Leader, Opposition, and Citizen Alike
By Damilola Omosebi
Sixty-five years. A lifetime for many, a mere chapter in the history of a nation. As the green-white-green flag is hoisted on October 1st, 2025, its flutter in the Harmattan breeze carries more than just the symbolism of ambition and peace. It carries the weight of our collective memory; a tapestry woven with threads of triumphant hope and devastating anguish, of unifying glory and divisive strife.
We stand not just at an anniversary, but at a crossroads. The path behind us is littered with the ghosts of conflicts unresolved, the echoes of dialogues unsaid, and the scars of wounds unhealed. The path ahead, however, glimmers with the latent potential of what Nigeria can be: not merely a giant of Africa, but a beacon to the world. This potential can only be unlocked through a deliberate, passionate, and collective pursuit of National Healing.
The Unhealed Wound: A Nation’s Silent Agony
To speak of healing is to first acknowledge the festering wounds. We are a nation of incredibly resilient people, but we have mistaken resilience for forgetfulness. We have papered over cracks in our national foundation with temporary fixes and political rhetoric.
The wound of 1967-1970 still whispers in the collective unconscious of generations that never saw the battlefields. The wounds of recurring religious and ethnic clashes—Jos, Kaduna, and others—burn with the heat of prejudice and the pain of lost kin. The wound of marginalization cries out from the Niger Delta, the Southeast, the Middle Belt, and from every community that feels its resources and its voice have been stolen. The gaping wound of economic disparity separates a privileged few from the teeming masses struggling for a single meal, breeding a toxic culture of anger and desperation.
We are a house divided, not just by geography or language, but by memory and grievance. To celebrate independence without addressing this is to dance on the grave of our shared destiny.
The Balm of Leadership: A Shepherd’s Sacred Duty
True healing must be led, and it must be led from the top. The government of the day, from the Presidency to the State Houses, carries a sacred duty that transcends infrastructure and GDP. It carries the duty of psychological and emotional governance.
· The Leadership Must Embody Reconciliation: It is not enough to preach unity; leadership must practice radical inclusivity. Appointments, projects, and policies must be visibly and authentically national, not regional or nepotistic. The language from the highest offices must be one that acknowledges past hurts, not dismisses them. A leader who genuinely says, “I see your pain, and I am committed to being a healer,” can unlock a reservoir of national goodwill.
· The Opposition Must Elevate Its Purpose: The opposition’s role is not to oppose for opposition’s sake. In the project of national healing, a mature opposition is a critical partner, not a permanent adversary. Its duty is to offer constructive alternatives, to hold power accountable with truth, not with malice, and to unite with the government on matters of supreme national interest—like security and national cohesion. The politics of bitterness and “pull-him-down” is a poison that sickens the entire body politic.
Leadership and opposition together must model the dialogue we need. Their debates should be on ideas, not insults. Their focus should be on the Nigerian people, not on political point-scoring.
The Tapestry of Nationalities: Our Greatest Strength is Not Our Weakness
Nigeria’s diversity is not our curse; it is our God-given endowment. The Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Fulani, Ijaw, Tiv, Kanuri, Ibibio, and over 250 other ethnic groups are not problems to be managed. They are unique threads in the most colourful tapestry in Africa.
National healing demands that we move beyond tolerance to celebration. We must actively create a culture where:
· A child in Kano learns about the artistry of Benin Bronzes and the philosophical depth of Igbo proverbs.
· A youth in Port Harcourt celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of the Yoruba and the rich historical kingdoms of the Hausa.
· We see our different languages, cuisines, music, and traditions not as markers of separation, but as a magnificent buffet of human expression from which we can all feast.
This requires a deliberate national policy—a cultural renaissance funded and promoted to ensure that every Nigerian feels like a proud shareholder in this vast national heritage, not a tenant in a hostile house.
The Call to Every Citizen: You Are the Healer
Healing cannot be decreed from Abuja; it must be cultivated in Aba, in Sokoto, in Maiduguri, in Lagos, in Calabar. It happens in our homes, our markets, our places of worship, and on social media.
· Check Your Bias: We have all inherited prejudices. Healing begins when we confront them, question them, and refuse to pass them on to our children.
· Reject Stereotypes: Refuse to define an entire group by the actions of a few. The criminal is a criminal, not an ethnic representative.
· Seek Understanding: Make a friend from another ethnicity or religion. Break bread with them. Listen to their stories. You will find the same hopes, the same fears for their children, the same love for this country that you have.
· Promote Peace: Be a voice of reason in your community. Report suspicious activity, not to spread fear, but to protect your neighbours—all of them.
The Promise of the Dawn: A New Nigeria at 65
On this 65th Independence Day, let us make a new pledge. Not just to Nigeria, but to each other.
Let us pledge to see the citizen before the tribe. Let us pledge to value the character before the creed. Let us pledge to remember the past, not to live in it, but to learn from it so we are not doomed to repeat its horrors.
National healing is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of a resilient spirit that chooses dialogue over violence, compassion over hatred, and unity over division. It is the courageous decision to apply the balm of truth, justice, and love to our wounds.
The journey of the next 65 years begins with a single step: the step we take towards one another with open hearts and outstretched hands. Let this anniversary be the day we truly begin to heal. Let us rise, together, and build a Nigeria that finally, and truly, works for all who call her home.
Happy Independence Day, Nigeria. May our next chapter be our greatest.
