President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to those he described as “martyrs” of the country’s first and only civil war.
While recalling the lives lost on both sides involved in the war which lasted for 30 months, Buhari prayed that never again shall the nation witness such.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled “President Buhari pays tribute to martyrs of Nigerian civil war.”
The civil war was fought between the government of Nigeria headed by Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the secessionist state of Biafra led by Lt. Col Odumegwu Ojukwu from July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970.
The war is often called “the Biafran war” in some quarters because the secessionist group had planned to christen the new sovereign nation ‘Biafra Republic if they succeeded.
Shehu said the President spoke at an event to welcome the leader of the Tijjaniyya Islamic Religious Movement, Sheikh Muhammadul Mahy Niass.
The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday paid tribute to the patriotic martyrs of the civil war whose glorious sacrifices enabled the unity of this great nation.
“Speaking at an event to welcome the World leader of the Tijjaniyya Islamic Religious Movement, Sheikh Muhammadul Mahy Niass, the Grand Khalifa of Sheikh Ibrahim Niass, President Buhari thanked the Movement for their profuse prayers for an end to the war and the reunification of Nigeria.
“The President recalled that in the 30 months of the civil war, Nigerians on both sides lost numerous lives and prayed that never again shall we experience such.
“He welcomed the Grand Khalifa to Nigeria and commended their efforts in finding solutions to the problems of security in the country”.
