The National Consultative Front, co-chaired by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ghali Naaba and Prof Pat Utomi, have appealed to former Nigerian leaders to intervene and rescue the nation from descending into anarchy.
The appeal was contained in a communique issued after a meeting of eminent Nigerians who are members of the group.
A former Minister of Defence, Olu Agunloye, read the communique at the end of the forum’s meeting in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The communique read in part, “We are calling on elder statesmen to temporarily halt their well-deserved rest and take the task of saving Nigeria from complete destruction.
“In this regard, former Presidents, Heads of State, all the former service Chiefs and so on, would be co opted into a National Elders Committee.
They appealed to former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, to convene a meeting of all former Presidents, Heads of States and their Deputies while the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), may convene an enlarged council of state meeting with a view to proffering solutions to the nation’s security challenges.
The communique also read, “Attack on individuals, groups and public facilities must stop immediately. Nigerians must stop the dangerous practice of Ethnic and religious profiling as all of us could fall victims in our own country where we are both hosts and guests
“That the recent events in Nigeria resulting in very violent conflicts and killings have put the citizens of Nigeria on what can be called emotional lockdown which invariably does not admit or allow any form of moderate views or moderation.
“We call on all political parties to suspend all political events or keep them backstage to give room to activities that would bring Nigeria back from the brink.
“To save Nigeria, we must interrogate the ideological content of our conversation, for instance the Almajiri system, the notion of open grazing and we must resolve the conflict of vision that is prevalent in Nigeria. For instance, do we want an Islamic State or a secular one.”
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