Separatists
calling for the breakup of Nigeria have crossed a red line and the country's
unity is not negotiable, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday in his first
speech since returning home after three months of medical leave in Britain.
Ethnic tensions have surfaced in the last few
months amid calls for a separate southeastern state, known as Biafra, while
some in the restive southern Niger Delta oil hub have called for independence
and Boko Haram militants seek an Islamic state in the northeast.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation with 180
million people, split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims and about
250 different ethnic groups who mostly live peacefully side-by-side.
In a televised speech, broadcast two days after his
return on Saturday, Buhari said he followed events in Nigeria on a daily basis
during his absence and was concerned by discussions over the possible
dissolution of the country.
"I was distressed to notice that some of the
comments, especially in the social media have crossed our national red lines by
daring to question our collective existence as a nation," said Buhari.
"Nigeria's unity is settled and not
negotiable. We shall not allow irresponsible elements to start trouble,"
he said, adding that some ethnic violence was "fueled by political
mischief makers".
Buhari, a 74-year-old northern Muslim who took
office in May 2015, handed over power to his deputy, Christian southerner Yemi
Osinbajo, when he traveled to Britain on May 7 for treatment of an unspecified
ailment.
Osinbajo held talks in June with regional leaders
in an effort to quell tension after Muslim activists demanded the eviction of
Igbo people from the north over their calls for the creation of a separate
Biafra state.
The tensions echoed the build up to a civil war
over the secession of Biafra in 1967 which ended with Nigeria's victory in
1970, after an estimated 1 million people died.
Buhari also said Nigeria's security agencies should
not let successes achieved against Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the
last 18 months "be a sign to relax", adding that Nigeria would
"reinforce and reinvigorate" the fight against the insurgents.
Suicide bomb attacks and raids by Boko Haram in the
northeast have increased in the last few months, killing at least 170 people
since June 1, according a Reuters tally. Buhari had said in December 2016 that
the group's main base had fallen.
Nigeria, an OPEC member which has Africa's biggest
economy, is in its first recession in 25 years which was largely caused by low
oil prices and the impact of attacks on energy facilities last year in the
Niger Delta.
Buhari said it was in the interest of Nigerians to
come together to face the challenge of economic security.
News Source: - Reuters | August 21,
2017.
Photo Source: - Sahara Reporters | August 20,
2017.
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