Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has accused former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, leaders of several ethnic groups of having unprovoked hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari.
The group, in a statement on Tuesday, urged them to drop their alleged divisive tendencies and emulate the efforts of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former Head of State, towards unifying the country and solving its problems through peace and dialogue.
BMO stated this in reaction to the two-day roundtable on national security organised by Abdulsalami Abubakar Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development Studies (AAIPSDS) in Minna, Niger State.
BMO said in a statement on Wednesday by its chairman Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that it noted how Abdulsalami quietly spearheaded the security summit, which is targeted, at peaceful co-existence in the country without heating up the polity.
The statement reads, “This is the path former heads of state are expected to toe, based on their national profile, rather than triggering bellicosity that could further widen the nation’s fault lines.
“Not many Nigerians were aware that the former Head of State, through the Abdulsalami Abubakar Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development Studies (AAIPSDS), was working on a peace summit until some of the invited groups brought it into the public domain.
“And this was at a time another former leader Olusegun Obasanjo was also in the public eye for an open letter in which he tacitly upbraided an entire ethnic group over some grievances which he suggested could be resolved at a National conference.
“But rather than take a similar route, Abdulsalami ensured that participants representing various interests as well as those with different perspectives on the emerging security challenges showed up in Minna, Niger State to proffer solutions for a united and peaceful Nigeria.
“We believe that a former President who built a reputation for mediating in conflict situations in many parts of Africa at the behest of international organisations like the UN and AU should have done what a younger former leader, with a lesser international pedigree, is doing in his own country.
“So we are urging Chief Obasanjo to consider emulating General Abdulsalami’s unifying peace initiative and peaceful disposition rather than the divisive efforts he had in recent times been engaged in, which are bound to dent his credentials as a respected and unbiased national figure,” BMO said.
The leadership of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had boycotted the roundtable, on the argument that Abdulsalami insulted them by extending same invitation to Miyetti Allah leaders.
But attacking the ethnic organisations for not attending the meeting, BMO said, “Our message for eminent Nigerians from all walks of life who turned up in Minna is that their contributions to peaceful co-existence would be etched in gold because there is no alternative to dialogue in resolving conflicts.
“Nigerians would also not forget in a hurry the socio-cultural groups which did not honour the invitation as their decision could be interpreted to mean that they rejected peace, but we know that the driving force for the attitude of these groups is hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari.”
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