Th e Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state, and a former governor, James Ibori, have expressed faith in Nigeria’s democracy and unity. Speaking at the 60th birthday thanksgiving mass of the senator representing Delta North, Peter Nwaoboshi, at St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ibusa, they stated that Nigerians should put the interest of the country fi rst before self. An array of traditional rulers, priests and politicians attended the event. Saraki said: “I want to assure the clergy that we will continue to seek for your prayers for this great country of ours; the challenges facing the country are enormous, it goes beyond roads and infrastructure. Th e peace and unity of this country is paramount and should be upheld, but equity
and Justice where every Nigerian has a say must be the watchword.” Okowa said: “Th e church should continue to pray for politicians for they work under very serious circumstances; we will continue to encourage ourselves to be good representatives of our people; we need the partnership of all Nigerians and Deltans to develop our communities and we will continue to support the Senate in its defence of democracy.” A cleric, John Aduba, had in a sermon urged political offi ce holders to be the voice of the voiceless, observing, “there is a lot of suff erings and smiling, people are being denied the basic things of life, no road, no water, no electricity; you might be comfortable but, those who elected you to serve, how do they feel?”
