President
Muhammadu Buhari has said he hopes Red Cross Society, NRCS, will not
do things the Nigerian way, even as he promised to assist the
organisation secure a permanent office accommodation in Abuja.
President
Buhari stated this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during his
investiture as Grand Patron of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, NRCS.
According
to him, “I have taken note of your logistics, especially your
request for office here. I assure you that the government will do its
best when you decide to build such facilities in terms of securing an
area here within the Federal Capital Territory and we hope you will
not do it the Nigerian ways of doing things.
“To
use the words of famous Nigerian Minister ‘I hope you will not
build an elephantine headquarters.”
He
also went down memory lane over the horrible consequence of the Civil
War, noting that the pathetic pictures of war-ravaged Biafrans were
always heart-rending.
Buhari
said: "Earlier in my profession, during the civil war, I know
how much sacrifice members of the Nigerian Red Cross and their
international counterparts made both in the real front of operations
and at the rear, on both sides.
“I
think it is a lot of sacrifices because anything can happen to you in
the operational areas. The risks they faced were real and I admire
their courage and commitment to helping people who were in distress
and were virtually in millions. Those photographs of people from the
Biafra enclave spoke a lot.
"I
remember with nostalgia the performance of the Commander-in-Chief,
General Gowon. Every commander was given a copy of the
Commander-in-Chief's instructions that we were not fighting enemies,
but that we were fighting our brothers. And thus, people were
constrained to show a lot of restraint.
"The
international observer teams were allowed to go as far as possible
within and outside the front and I think this was generous and very
considerate of General Gowon. He is a highly committed Nigerian."
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