TheCable

After surviving an assassination attempt in a bomb blast on Wednesday afternoon, former military president, General Muhammadu Buhari believes the federal government can surmount the country’s pressing challenge of terrorism.

Speaking when a top delegation led by governor of Kaduna State, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero paid him a visit, the former head of state dismissed the belief that the ongoing insurgency can lead to the country’s disintegration of Nigeria.

“Nigeria is capable of dealing with this. We dealt with the civil war, for 30 months, we fought and we kept Nigeria one and God willing we are going to keep Nigeria one,” he said.

“When this question of Boko Haram started, I’m sure it was on record that the first statement I made about 18 months ago was that the sect members were not religion advocates and that what is happening basically is terrorism. This is terrorism and I hope the government will come to grip with it.”

Buhari expressed sympathy to families and friends of the people caught in Wednesday’s twin attacks, branding those behind the attack as “common enemies of Nigerians”.

“I commiserate with the families of those that died, because this thing was ignited at exactly when my car was almost side by side with this thing,” he said.

“When I came out, there was blood on my dress. I did not know how it came about because I did not have a scratch myself, but there were dead bodies all over the place.

“This has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity, but purely an act of terrorism.”

He urged both the state and federal governments to unite in order to effectively address the security challenges facing the country.