‘Nigeria Must Avoid Falling Into Traps Of Foreign, Domestic Enemies’

An elder statesman and a first-generation retired General of the Nigerian Army, Prince Olu Bajowa, has called on Nigerians not to allow the country to fall into the traps of those he called foreign and domestic enemies.

Bajowa said Nigeria must learn from the recent experience of a “fellow African country, Libya, a once prosperous model African economy, who allowed themselves to be lured into an avoidable war.”

The elder statesman stated this on Monday in a statement titled “Open Love Letter.” This follows the recent 10-day nationwide protest from August 1st to 10th, 2024, which was tagged “Days of Rage” in Akure, the state capital.

Bajowa appealed to Nigerians across social, political, religious, tribal, and ethnic divides to consider the grave implications of making sensitive statements that tend to fan the embers of war and threaten the unity and peace of the nation.

While urging Nigerians to give peace a chance that the country’s economy will rise again, Bajowa said, “Let Nigerians protect Nigeria and let those who gleefully brandished the flags of some foreign countries during the recent protest be told that no country loves Nigeria more than we Nigerians! And no country is free from one form of challenge or the other.”

He added: “I am particularly concerned about the violent dimension that the protest assumed in some parts of the country, especially the north, and the ethnic innuendos that it generated, vis-a-vis the “Igbo Must Go” campaign, said to have been spearheaded by some unscrupulous, faceless groups in Lagos; and also a secessionist outburst credited to a highly revered intellectual from the north, and a counter press release, by an Elder Statesman from the South East.

“My position is not in any way to downplay the enormity of the economic hardship now being faced by the ordinary citizens, but to encourage us to stand firm together as one indivisible nation throughout this trying period and accept it as nothing but a sacrifice for a passing phase in our nation’s history.

“‘Without sounding political, I believe that our elder statesmen and leaders across the board should seize the opportunity of a time like this to send messages of “hope” to our people instead of spreading hopelessness and disrepair.’’