Former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has said the North can only overcome its numerous challenges through unity.
He spoke when officials of the Northern Star Youth Empowerment Initiative (NSYEI) led by a former governor of Sokoto State and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the movement, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, the co-chairperson, Hajia Naja’atu Mohammed and its director-general, Dr Abdullahi Idris, visited him at his residence in Minna, Niger State yesterday.
While lauding the activities of the group, he advised it to work hard to unite the North and the whole country to overcome the challenges of the region bedeviled by various forms of insecurity.
“Only through unity can the north overcome its numerous challenges which makes the birth of the Northern Star movement at this time both commendable and timely,” he said.
The former military leader charged the movement to be undeterred in the pursuit of its noble objectives.
The chairman of the Board of Trustees of the movement, Alhaji Bafarawa earlier in his speech traced the history leading to the formation of the movement, with the aim of uniting the North and pursuing all legitimate interests of the region.
Also Speaking, the co-chairperson and its director-general, Hajiya Naja’atu and Dr Abdullahi reiterated the importance of unity among the diverse peoples of the North which, according to them, was the only way the region can pursue its interests as one strong consequential unit of the Nigerian federation.
All the speakers expressed gratitude to the former president for his support and encouragement to the movement, promising not to let him and the region down.