Former Nigerian military head of state, retired General Yakubu Gowon, has called for an urgent meeting of all leaders and elder statesmen in Nigeria to find ways of putting an end to the killings across the country, especially in Benue and Borno states.
The former head of state, who spoke in Owerri, the Imo State capital, when he visited Governor Rochas Okorocha ahead of the Nigeria Prays Group’s prayer rally in the Southeast, condemned the killings, saying that his heart bleeds at the rate at which innocent lives are lost daily.
“Without Peace, certainly, we won’t be able to grow any further. And this is what has been retarding Nigeria recently,” General Gowon said.
“Let us continue to pray but let us also play our own part to ensure that we are doing whatever we can to achieve the peace.”
Governor Okorocha wanted Nigerian to view the killings in Benue and other parts of the country as a national problem for which all the citizens should rise to face the challenge of tackling it, irrespective of political, ethnic and religious differences.
“As things stand, very little progress has been made in terms of finding a solution to the violence and killings. It started from Boko Haram, to herdsmen, to Niger Delta (militancy), to kidnapping.”
