National chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Salihu Mustapha has come out to warn against inciting comments capable of plunging the country into another civil war.

He recently revealed this via a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen in Abuja, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, these remarks will help nobody, and it is time for perpetrators to realize that they have no other country other than Nigeria, so they have to avoid the path that would quicken her balkanization.

He added that rather than making things worse with words of mouth, we should instead seek peaceful means of resolving conflicts.

His words, “I condemn the attempt by some groups and persons to politicize our security challenges. As Nigerians, we should learn from the ethnic crisis in Rwanda and elsewhere. Violence has never solved any country’s problems.”

“War or violence does not recognize religion or tribe. It is a consuming fire. It is not respecter of any body – the poor or rich; old or young.”

“Unfortunate as the level of insecurity may be, politicians, persons and groups should be careful not to overheat the system. We should bear in mind that no nation survives a civil war twice. Let’s join hands with the present administration to find a lasting solution to the problems which predate this administration.”

“Nigerians who were born after the Civil war should learn lessons from Rwanda in 1994. War is bad, war is evil. Let us be properly guided.He that rushes to war or advocates war, should know that war brings death and destruction.”

“I am calling on the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led peace committee to rally senior citizens to talk and foster peace. 2023 would be an illusion without peace and a united Nigeria.”

What do you think?

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is a political party in Nigeria, formed on 6 February 2013 in anticipation of the 2015 elections. APC candidate Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election by almost 2.6 million votes. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat on 31 March. This was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one in which power transferred peacefully from one political party to another. In addition, the APC won the majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2015 elections, though it fell shy of winning a super-majority to override the ability of the opposition People’s Democratic Party to block legislation.

Formed in February 2013, the party is the result of a merger of Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party. The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi, who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of the APGA; Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP’s Merger Committee; and Garba Shehu, the Chairman of CPC’s Merger Committee. Ironically, less than 2 years before the party’s historic victory in the 2015 elections, Messrs. Annie Okonkwo, Tom Ikimi and Ibrahim Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP.

Prior to the formation of the APC and its victory in the 2015 elections, Muhammadu Buhari had previously contested (and subsequently lost) the Nigerian presidential elections of 2003 and 2007 as the presidential nominee of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the 2011 Nigerian presidential election as the presidential nominee of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).