- The former leader also advised younger generations on the need to try as much as possible to know and understand the country
Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, has recounted the ordeal of the Nigerian Civil War.
The Civil War was fought from 1967 and 1970 between the Nigerian federal government forces and the troops of the breakaway eastern region of yore.
Babangida said the civil war had to be fought to keep the country, noting that it was not a great experience.
Babangida spoke in a live radio programme anchored by the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna campus radio, ‘Search FM’, on Saturday morning.
The former President said: “It’s not a very nice experience, I must say.
“First of all, you had people you went to school with, people you trained with, people who were your friends, suddenly, as a result of the war, you find yourselves facing each other on opposite sides.
“It is not very comfortable but then we had to do it. The purpose was to unite the country to keep it as one not to break it.
“So that’s the uniquely sad aspect of a civil war and I pray it never happens again.”
The former leader also advised younger generations on the need to try as much as possible to know and understand the country, Nigeria because they are going to lead the country in the future.
“You have an opportunity now as young people, get to know the country, study the country, the people and if you are able to do that or to understand that, basically I think that will go a long way to prepare you for the eventual leadership of the country”.
Speaking on whether or not the biopic, ‘Portrait of a General’ by Nollywood is an accurate representation of events of his time, IBB said, “Well, as a military man a man who practiced both in war and peace time I would have corrected one or two places.
“But I think what they (Nollywood) are trying to project is a food for thought that could give us the room for improvement.”
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