Members of the Former Governors Forum have warned against secession or military coup in Nigeria, describing them as evil and unacceptable.
The forum made the call in a statement jointly signed by its chairman and former Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, and its secretary, Prof Tunde Esan, in Abuja.
The ex-governors also called for calm and continuous national discourse towards finding solutions to the challenges facing Nigeria as a nation.
The ex-governors said: “We equally call on the federal government to rise up to its promise to deal decisively with the challenges facing our country”.
The statement read in part: “In the past few weeks, this great nation, like a panther draped in threads of errors, is increasingly witnessing odious suggestions and audacious pronouncements that ignores the danger it typifies.
“That military intervention and a twin aberration: secession, will be a solution to our national malaise.
“That authoritarianism embodied by rulership by fiat and suspension of democracy will bring solutions to the challenges facing our nation.
“We state clearly that this is unacceptable, evil, and malicious. With a due sense of responsibility, we consider this calls a red line.
“No matter how difficult our march is, our faith in democracy should never and must never be substituted by alternatives that challenge our survival as a country.”
The Forum called for calm, continuous national discourse towards finding solutions to the challenges facing the country.
It equally called on the federal government to rise up to its promise to deal decisively with the challenges facing Nigeria.
“Former Governors Forum will continue to engage the critical stakeholders towards the promotion of our core mantra and agenda: a platform for a prosperous and united nation.
“Entrenching democracy in our country is central to this goal,” the forum said..