This bloodletting must stop –IBB

As condemnations continue to trail Wednesday’s twin bomb attacks in Kaduna, where former head of state and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), narrowly escaped death, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has said the endless bloodletting in the country must stop.

He said the wanton killings and needless bloodletting in the country had continued to retard the nation’s growth and democratic journey, saying: “It is callous and inhuman for anyone to goad this country on the path of perfidy, a path that is laid with landmines and bombs. This is totally unacceptable.”

In a statement issued yesterday, Babangida said the recent Kaduna bomb attacks and several other attacks had tended to portray Nigeria as a terrorist nation grasping with insecurity.

“To state the least, this bloodletting must stop. This bloodletting has to stop,” he declared.

The former military ruler said Nigerians must see the current state  of insecurity in the country as a national problem and not one that was pigeon-holed in any particular region, religion or tribe. He noted that Nigerians, by virtue of their nationality, should be free to live anywhere in the country without molestation, harassment and intimidation.

The statement read in part: “Let me also condole with Mr. President on this unfortunate incident and the recurring decimal of insecurity and crime against humanity that is fast polluting public morality. We all must join hands with Mr. President at this critical time of our national history and democratic journey to proffer solutions to this anti-development scenario that is fast enveloping us.

“I have sat back in my quiet retirement home in Minna to ponder over what could be the motivation for these several attacks, but I am yet to find any explanation why Nigerians would be killing fellow Nigerians. For those of us who fought the civil war, our painful sense of nostalgia still remains deep, as much as our patriotic attitude towards this great country, Nigeria. These wanton killings and needless bloodletting have continued to retard our growth and democratic journey, forcing the system to improvise all manners of mechanisms to arrest this descent to anarchy.

“Even as I sympathise with my colleague, former president, General Mohammadu Buhari, for escaping the bomber’s scalpel, I also wish to condole with the families of those who lost their lives in this attack. It is frightening and calls for condemnation by all well-meaning people of Nigeria. We all must rise above partisanship in our condemnation of this state of insecurity, as we all must be united in our clear-cut resolve to finding solutions to this hydra-headed situation we find ourselves.”

“The president and our governors need our prayers at various stages of their leadership to arrest this ugly trend. Nigeria of our dream is one that provides opportunity for all irrespective of our cultural and political differences; a nation that comprises several nation-states with abundant resources and opportunities for our flourishing population. We must, therefore, be resolute in our collective reasoning and determination to trudge on despite these obvious setbacks to safely paddle the ship of state to a safe harbour.”