Buhari promises to unite Nigeria by all means

President Muhammadu Bu­hari on Thursday in Abuja reiterated his position on keeping the nation united by all means.

Daily Independent reported that he met with Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, where he enjoined all Nigerians to go about their lawful businesses as “the country’s unity is not nego­tiable”.

Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the governor said the president said these when he briefed him on the decision of the Amalgamated Union of Food and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AFUCDN) to call off its strike.

Bello, who commended the efforts of the president toward addressing national challenges, said: “Mr. Presi­dent expressed concern over the insecurity in the land.
“As the command­er-in-chief, he has assured ev­ery one of us based on his se­curity meeting yesterday, that Nigeria is going to be secured, safe and prosperous, and I be­lieve in him 100 percent.

“He urged every one of us to continue to go about our lawful businesses in the coun­try, that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable, that Nigeria must be united, peaceful and that Nigeria must be prosperous.”

The governor revealed that the president had pledged to look into the concerns raised by the union with a view to addressing them.

According to him, the union is demanding that the various extortions that take place on the roads, by touts in most cases, be stopped.

He said: “I thank God, Mr. President has given directive to that effect, that all law en­forcement agencies should ensure that traders should not be extorted on the road again.

“So, they are asking that extortions be stopped and also that those who killed their members be brought to justice. I don’t think they’re asking for too much.

“Remember that the crisis was snowballing into a major national catastrophe whereby some other parts of this coun­try were gearing up for repri­sal attacks in this country and setting us up for crisis.

“Meanwhile, those who set up the crisis, that is what they want to achieve.
“We can’t afford to allow this country to snowball into civil war again, not this time around.

“We are so much interwo­ven that we are inseparable, again, by marriage, by busi­ness investments, by politics and every other form of de­velopment.

“Nigeria is so much in­terwoven that we shouldn’t allow any few bad elements, however, lowly placed or however highly placed, come and divide us again, it is not possible.”

The governor expressed optimism that the mistakes that led to the strike would not be repeated.