Buhari insists Nigerians stronger together than apart

President Muhammadu Buhari has yet again reiterated his position that Nigeria will not break up under any circumstances.

Agitations to break up the country have been strong especially in the southeast region over the past few years, and recently gained new grounds in the southwest.

However, Buhari once again insisted that the nation is better as a united force if everyone commits to uplifting it.

"Despite occasional inter-ethnic tensions in our national history, it seems to me that we have all agreed on one point that, notwithstanding our diversity of ethnicity, culture, language, and religion, Nigerians are better together, even stronger together," he said at the 12th Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Colloquium held in Kano on Monday, March 29, 2021.

The president noted that his experience of working across the country has shown him possibilities of a strong and united nation.

Recalling his involvement in the Nigerian Civil War which was sparked by a secession attempt in the late 1960s, Buhari cautioned that war is not the answer to Nigeria's problems.

"I fought for the unity of Nigeria, and I saw first-hand the unspeakable horrors of war, not just on fellow soldiers on both sides, but on the civilians.

"We must count our blessings in Nigeria and see in them the crucial factors of peace and unity," he said.

Monday's colloquium was held in honour of the 69th birthday of former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, described as 'an advocate of unity and cohesion in Nigeria' during Buhari's virtual address.

The president praised the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for always reflecting a pan-Nigeria attitude in his political activities.