Prominent Nigerian leaders have insisted on the need for national unity through peaceful cohesion as a panacea for the country’s sustainable growth and development.
The leaders including National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi, Benue State Governor, Rev. P. Hyacinth Alia, and Gombe State Governor and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Inuwa Yahaya, among others, during the wedding ceremony of Josephine Tirnok, first daughter of the Northern CAN Chairman, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, and her husband Shadrach Ojima-Ojo.
Ribadu who acted as father of the day was represented by the DG DSS who was also the special guest of honor along with the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, while the Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, acted as Chairman of the occasion.
The leaders urged citizens to embrace mutual respect and collaboration, emphasizing that national development and peace require collective commitment.
Speaking at the event, Governor Hyncinth Alia, represented by Rev. Fr Gabriel Ngbea, Federal Commissioner of the Federal Civil Service Commission, commended the couple on their union and reminded them to anchor their marriage on faith, moral values and the support of their loved ones.
Alia said marriage was an institution of God and admonished the couple to build their home on the foundation of God which can never fail.
In his remarks, Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya said marriage is the most important institution in the world and urged the couple to make their home a model of peace, while lamenting that failure in most homes has contributed to many challenges facing the country.
Represented by the Deputy Governor of Gombe State, His Excellency Manasseh Daniel Jatau, he charged the couple to distinguish between the excitement of the wedding day and the responsibility of lifelong marriage.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the event, the father of the bride and CAN Northern President, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, urged Nigerian parents to embrace intercultural marriages as a path to healing the country’s divisions.
Describing the union as a symbolic model of the harmony Nigeria needs, Hayab said intercultural and interfaith marriages remain practical tools to break down barriers and build trust between diverse communities.
She encouraged her daughter and her husband to build a home based on patience and understanding, and emphasized that strong marriages evolve through growth and sacrifice.
Others present at the occasion were the representative of Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, Mallam Sani Kila Liman; Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Sanbuwa Balarabe; Mrs. Abigail Marshall Katung; Mayor of Leeds and wife of Senator Marshall Katung, among others.