Bomb blasts: IBB calls for end to insurgency
Former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, on Thursday condemned Wednesday's twin bomb blasts suspected to have been targeted at ex-military Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, and an Islamic cleric, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, in Kaduna.
Babangida warned against continued bloodletting in the country.
In a statement he personally signed and entitled, 'This Bloodletting Must Stop', Babangida said the bomb attacks have once again thrown up new dimensions in the political life of Nigeria which has been branded as a terrorist nation.
'This and several other attacks have tended to portray our dear country as a terrorist nation that is grasping with insecurity. To state the least, this bloodletting must stop. This bloodletting has to stop'.
More than 50 people were killed by the two bombs that went off moments between one another in the Kaduna metropolis on Wednesday.
Babangida said he was yet to fathom why Nigerians can be killing one another when they are not in the middle of a civil war.
He added that the incessant terrorist attacks in the country have continued to 'retard our growth and democratic journey, forcing the system to improvise all manners of mechanisms to arrest this descent to anarchy'.
'It is callous and inhuman for anyone to goad this country on the path of perfidy, a path that is laid with landmines and bombs. This is totally unacceptable.'
While sympathising with President Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari and families of those who lost their lives in the blasts, Babangida enjoined Nigerians to cooperate with the President and the state Governors in finding lasting solutions to the insecurity challenge irrespective of their ethnic, religion or political differences.
'Even as I sympathise with my colleague former President, General Muhammadu Buhari, for escaping the bomber's scalpel, I also wish to condole with the families of those who lost their lives in this attack.
'It is frightening and calls for condemnation by all well-meaning people of Nigeria. We all must rise above partisanship in our condemnation of this state of insecurity, as we all must be united in our clear-cut resolve to finding solutions to this hydra-headed situation we find ourselves.
'We must see this state of insecurity as a Nigeria problem and not one that is pigeon-holed in any particular region, religion or tribe.
'Nigerians, by virtue of their nationality, should be free to live anywhere in the country without molestation, harassment and intimidation.
'Let me also condole with Mr. President on this unfortunate incident and the recurring decimal of insecurity and crime against humanity that is fast polluting public morality.
'We all must join hands with Mr. President at this critical time of our national history and democratic journey to proffer solutions to this anti-development scenario that is fast enveloping us,' Babangida added.