Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, the former Chief of Army Staff, has urged separatists to perish their thoughts of Nigeria’s disintegration, predicting that the country will remain a united nation.
Buratai spoke in Kuta, Osun State, on Sunday at the 60th birthday celebration of Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude.
The event attracted a host of dignitaries, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, and ex-Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, among others.
Buratai, who described Olowu Kuta as a detribalized Nigerian who has shown love to people across all ethnic groups in the country, said those agitating that the country should disintegrate must be ready to carve out their own part and move it to the ocean.
Noting that the experience of civil war had taught Nigerians that agitation to divide the country would always fail, Buratai called for unity to further enhance Nigeria’s development.
“You know that Nigeria is one, unless you remove those people who are agitating and drift (them) to the Atlantic. We will remain one Nigeria; anybody who wants to leave Nigeria should carry a part of the land and take it to the Atlantic, not within Nigerian territory. It is very clear what the level of integration is.
“There are many Hausas here; there are many Yoruba and Igbo in the North. So, we should not allow politics to becloud our sense of unity and sovereignty.
“Anybody that says that he wants to leave Nigeria is a dreamer because we had bitter experiences during the civil war. So it is not something that we will joke with,” Buratai said.
He advised Nigerians to embrace peace and focus on development, adding that the country should work more to further cement its unity by taking concrete actions that would bring about development and not by mere utterances.
In his remarks, Oba Oyelude said he would continue to champion the cause of unity and progress for Nigeria and called on well-meaning Nigerians to work for the country’s unity and progress.
