Former military head of state General Abdulsalam Abubakar (retd) has told Biafra and Yoruba nations self-determination agitator to reconsider their moves, saying it is difficult to separate.
Abubakar spoke in Abuja during the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Legacy Dialogue 2021 organised by the Ibrahim and Maryam Babangida Library and Museum.
The event was put together ahead of the 80th birthday anniversary of former military president General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on August 17.
Abubakar told the agitators that there was strength in diversity, saying Nigerians should try to see how they can sink their differences and continue to live together in peace, being each other’s keeper.
“Even if you break Nigeria now, how are you going to do? When everybody, every Nigerian, anywhere you go in the village, you will find a Hausa man, a Yoruba man, an Igbo man, Itsekiri and so on and so forth. So, when you say you divide, where do you draw the line with the inter-marriages and so on and so forth? It is going to be difficult.”
On the insecurity bedeviling the nation, Abubakar said all hands should be on deck to address the menace, calling on Nigerians to expose perpetrators of insecurity.
He added that all the culprits, the Boko Haram, kidnappers and other criminal elements, were living amongst Nigerians, saying that they were definitely known.
“So, let us expose them to the authorities and let us put our hands on deck to tackle the security challenges,” Abubakar also said.
Earlier, Abubakar hailed Babangida, disclosing that right from childhood, he showed qualities of leadership as he was made a monitor in his class right from the elementary school and head boy in the secondary school.
On the misconceptions about Babangida, Mark who was military governor of Niger State and minister of communications during the Babangida regime, said there were pros and cons, noting that Babangida had supporters and those who have made up their minds that they would never believe in Babangida.
“And there are those who feel, like somebody said, they can be blindfolded, they will follow him to anywhere he decides to go,” Mark said.
Mark added that from general observation, one thing that was established at the event was that Babangida had a human heart, feeling, personal touch that he brought into governance.
“The way he sympathise with people is unique and truly, it is very, very unique. For people like me, I mean, he was like a protector, mentor in the Armed Forces. And for so many of us, that is exactly what he is.
“So, I think I am not surprised that there are people who, regardless of what he says or does, will believe him and there are those who will be against him,” Mark also said.
Chairman of the occasion, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, dismissed negative attributes by some Nigerians to Babangida’s reputation over the years.
He specifically absolved Babangida of the blame of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the alleged missing $12 billion oil windfall while he held away as military head of state.
Spokesman to Babangida, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the idea behind the event was to recalibrate the Babangida phenomenon. (The Sun)
