Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the solidarity of world leaders at the Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is ennobling and strengthening for countries like Nigeria and the Commonwealth.
Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Monday, said the vice president spoke with journalists after attending the State Funeral Service of the late Queen of England at Westminster Abbey, London, UK.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the Commonwealth comprises of 54 member states from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.
The vice president said that the coming together of leaders to celebrate the life of late Queen and attend her funeral was a show of solidarity and goodwill by people from around the world.
According to him, it is also a testament to the brotherhood of nations.
“For countries like ours, for Nigeria and for the Commonwealth, this has been very ennobling, very strengthening.
“I am sure that King Charles felt not just the honour of having so many people come by, but also the reassurance that there is a brotherhood across the world and that the Commonwealth remains strong.
“A Commonwealth of free nations who willingly subscribe to coming together to work together; to achieve sometimes, disparate political objectives but clear economic objectives.”
Osinbajo said that the event was a historic one that was unlikely to happen, perhaps in another lifetime.
He commended the sheer enormity of all that had happened and the gathering of leaders from everywhere, the good will, the good wishes, and all of that from practically everywhere around the world.
“So, I think that this has truly been a testament to the sort of person the Queen was – in life and death, brought people together and perhaps even more so in death.’’
The vice president prayed for a successful reign for King Charles lll.
“One wishes King Charles very well indeed, and I think we are all anxious that he succeeds.
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“And that he perhaps does even better than his mother, which is the hope of his mum.
“I am sure that the Queen will really hope that all her successors and in this case King Charles, will do better than she did.
“We are all looking forward to a wonderful reign, a reign that will bring prosperity, peace, not just to England, but to the Commonwealth and to all of us.”
Osinbajo described the late Queen as a Monarch for all seasons.
He said that in the 70 years of her reign, Queen Elizabeth II had been through practically every cycle – war, peace, economic decline, apartheid.
“All the various cycles, where truly major things were going on, she held her own and she was always able to bring a certain degree of understanding.
“And just the gravity of someone who doesn’t hold political office is so well respected and well regarded.
“In so many ways, she was a factor in practically all of the various cycles that we have experienced, not just in the Commonwealth, but in the world itself.
“I think she was a stabilising force, that was why I thought the description (borrowed from “the man for all seasons”) that she was the Queen for all seasons,” he said.
Shortly after the Funeral Service, the vice president and all the foreign dignitaries, no fewer than 500, were hosted to a reception by the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Mr James Cleverly.
The Queen’s funeral procession then proceeded to Windsor Castle where she was laid to rest alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. (NAN)
