By SALIU GBADAMOSI, Abuja
FORMER Military Head of State and elder statesman, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), on Saturday warned Nigerians, particularly the youth and war drum beaters, not to drag the country into another civil war that may spell permanent doom for Nigeria and its people.
The former Head of State, who was at the helm of affairs when Nigeria fought its 30-month civil war between 1967-70, gave the warning in Abuja at a public lecture, entitled, “Rejigging the security architecture: imperatives for the second line of public safety: the Nigerian peace corps perspectives”, organised by the Peace Corps of Nigeria as one of the programmes lined up to mark its 23 years.
According to Gowon, who was represented as the chairman of the lecture by a former military governor of old Bauchi State, Major General Chris Abutu Garuba (retd), another civil war would not only bring permanent backwardness to the country but also harrowing experiences of unimaginable dimension to the innocent citizenry.
While describing war as an unpleasant situation, Gowon submitted that those who fell victims of the civil war between 1967 and 1970 would not wish that Nigeria had another experience of such again. He expressed deep concern on the growing tension in the country as well as agitations among the youths, calling on the Federal Government to take up the challenge.
The former head of state then showered praises on the Peace Corps of Nigeria and its National Commandant, Professor Dickson Akoh, for calming down the anger restless youth through mobilization and orientation.
He sought the support of well-meaning Nigerians and the government for the Corps.
Delivering his lecture, the guest lecturer, Professor Isaac Olawale Albert, declared that only those who had never seen war that could call for one.
According to the Professor of African History, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan, going into another civil war would only escalate the problems confronting the country now.
“If you see war, blood-shedding of the innocents, you will run if you have the opportunity to do so. It is only those who have never seen a war that can call for it. It does not pay anyone,” Albert said.
He, therefore, advised those agitating for war and secession threats to stop in their own interest and those of the innocent citizens. The advice, he said, was imperative considering the fact that the country and Nigerians would gain nothing from another civil war in the end. (Sunday Tribune)
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