President Muhammadu Buhari has said the self-centredness that led to the loss of about a million lives between 1967 and 1970 during the civil war must not be allowed to repeat itself.
The president said this Tuesday while receiving former state Chairmen of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at the State House, Abuja.
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CPC is among the legacy parties that formed the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Our main objective is the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We are human beings. We have our weaknesses, but I can assure you that the patriotism in us is hard earned. We have gone through all the troubles from the 15th of January 1966 to date. You know what I mean by this, we have killed a million of ourselves in order to keep this country together.
“I don’t think there can be any practical experience more than that. We are Nigerians, God willing, we remain Nigerians and Nigeria will remain one,’’ he said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.
Buhari urged all members of the defunct CPC and political leaders to always be mindful of the larger picture by working towards preserving the unity, peace and integrity of the nation.
Describing the president as the “Patriarch of the CPC’’, the Chairman of the Forum of State Chairmen of the defunct CPC and former Chairman of the party in Niger State, Umar Shuaibu, said the party had maintained all its structures across the country, assuring President Buhari of their loyalty, especially in the forthcoming elections.
He said the CPC had always garnered millions of votes in elections across the country and would support the APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
