Former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, sounding a note of hope and optimism on the eve of his birthday on Wednesday, said the security challenges currently facing the country would be over soon.
Babangida, who turned 81 yesterday, said Nigerians should be patient, prayerful, and supportive of one another.
The former head of state spoke on Tuesday when officials of the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Niger State paid him a birthday visit at his Minna residence.
Speaking in Minna on the eve of his 81st birthday, Babangida urged those behind the series of insurgency across the country to have a change of heart.
He said, “Nigerians should be patient and should be convinced that this, too, shall pass. God in His infinite mercy will come to our rescue.”
Babangida advised Nigerians to be patient and prayerful and continue to sensitise one another on the need to live in peace with one another.
He observed that the strategies he had used to secure the country while he was in power might not be applicable now, saying, “Things have changed.”
On his 81st birthday, Babangida said, “I give thanks to God Almighty that has kept me till today. Alhamudullillah.”
Babangida said journalists in the state had been doing a tremendous job in propagating the state and the country. He advised the media to keep up the good work.
The former military leader counselled media practitioners in the country to work towards changing the psyche of ordinary Nigerians, adding that the press “should ignore those that preach hate and disunity; ignore them”.
He expressed hope that the media in the country in the next eight years would “shape the way Nigeria will be”.
