President Muhammadu Buhari today charged Nigerians to be tolerant and embrace peace in the interest of the country.
The President made the appeal during his visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda.
In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said “the lessons from his visit were the need for Nigerians to continue to be tolerant of one another and for the nation to also preserve its own antecedents from the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970).
“I went through all the experiences from January 15 1966 till date. I was a Governor, Minister and a Head of State and went through detention. I returned to partisan politics and will finish my two terms as constitutionally allowed.
“We fought a thirty-month bitter war and we killed about a million of each other. Nigeria went through this kind of terrible development process”, the statement reads.
The President also hailed and mourned the victims of Rwanda Genocide in the visitors’ book before his departure from the place.
“Remembering the victims of this dark history of Rwanda Genocide, we pray that humanity will never experience this kind of hatred, wickedness and violence toward others because of their ethnic background, religions and beliefs.
“Nigeria is strongly committed to the prevention of mass atrocity anywhere in the world and believes that perpetrators of such crimes; and their enablers, anywhere in the world must be held accountable”, the statement added.
President Buhari jetted out to Kigali on Wednesday to participate in the 26 Commonwealth Heads of Governement Meeting (CHOGM).
He would hold bilateral talks with Rwandan President, Paul Kugame and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Jonhson and attend the opening of CHOGM as well as meetings with the Heads of State and Government.
