The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that the marginalization of Igbo and other minority ethnic groups in the country must stop.
Bakare said this over the weekend in Lagos, in commemoration of the June 12 Democracy Day.
According to the cleric, Nigeria has a chance at returning to national ideals through reconciliation, reconstitution and reconstruction.
He said the country must address other historical grievances, including, “the lingering memories of inhumane treatment, economic deprivation, marginalisation and non-inclusion of the Igbos that have festered since the end of the civil war.”
Nigeria’s current state does not represent Buhari I know – Pastor Tunde Bakare
He said that issues that have led to calls for secession and self-determination by different groups in the South West and South East and the bitterness and vengeance among some Fulanis and their host communities must be addressed by the government.
The cleric said that the discontent in the Niger-Delta region as a result of continued environmental degradation and the history of bloodshed such as the killing of advocates like Ken Saro-Wiwa.
He said attention must also be paid to the lingering feeling of exclusion from the governance by women and Nigerian youths.