Outrage Over Killings Across the Country
NIGERIANS are bemoaning the spate of killings across the country.
Many are outraged by weekend’s killings in Borno, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau and Ekiti states.
In Ondo State last week, a first class traditional ruler, Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adeusi, was waylaid on the highway and killed.
The wife of Mr. Olugbenga Ale, the Chief of Staff to Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, was kidnapped.
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum was on Sunday at the funeral of the 43 farmers killed by Boko Haram insurgents on Saturday.
It was learnt that the death toll may rise as many people are still missing. The Boko Haram attackers abducted many others – whose fate is unknown.
The death toll in the Kaduna killings yesterday rose to eight. Five suspects have been arrested.
An Associate professor at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM), Karl Kwaghger, was killed in the Benue State capital on Saturday night.
Two people were killed, according to the police in Kugiys market in Bukuru, Jos South local government area also at the weekend.
Among those who condemned the killings were President Muhamadu Buhari; Senate President Ahmad Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.
The Northern Governors’ Forum and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also flayed the incidents.
Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, described the killings as insane.
He said his government had given all the needed support to the armed forces “to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.
“I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief,’’ the President lamented.
Lawan described the killings as another act of babarism against innocent Nigerians minding their own business.
“This incident is heart-rending and again demonstrates why we must all continue to support the security forces to thwart the criminals in their evil determination to impose a reign of terror on the North East of Nigeria,’ he said.
Gbajabiamila said the incident had once again brought to the fore the need for more military action against terrorists.
“It’s unfortunate that our countrymen lost their lives to the barbaric and inhuman action of the insurgents at this time,” he said in a statement by his spokesman, Lanre Lasisi.
“This incident is one too many for us as a country…. This should call for more action from our military. As a House, we are ever ready to give them all the necessary support, especially through budgetary allocation, to deal decisively with the insurgents,” Gbajabiamila added.
Also, Deputy Speaker Idris Wase challenged security agents in the country to redouble their efforts in the fight against insurgents.
He described the killings as painful and highly regrettable, especially at this period when the country is striving to attain food sufficiency. .
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The Northern governors said they were appalled by the incident, which they described as a big setback for the country’s efforts to attain sufficiency in rice production and food security.
They added in a statement by their Chairman, Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong, that they had consistently worked with the Federal Government, security agencies, and local support groups to ensure that farmers were protected.
They commiserated with the families of the deceased farmers as well as the people and government of Borno State over the killings.
The PDP said Nigerians were under mental and physical torture by the insurgents and bandits.
Its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Federal Government should not leave the latest Borno Killings unaddressed.
He said: “The PDP notes with pain that this horrific killing of compatriots comes as yet another of the recurring horrid testament and badge of failure of the President Buhari-led APC administration to secure our nation and guarantee the safety of lives and property in our country.
“Indeed, our party is distressed by the escalated killing, and maiming of innocent Nigerians by insurgents, bandits and marauders, who have continued to ravage and pillage our communities, while the lazy and lethargic Buhari administration continues with its lip service, rhetoric, and false performance claims.”
The PDP added that it was particularly disturbed by the failure of the President to take decisive action, despite a series of concerns raised by Governor Zulum over security compromises in the state.
The party further said that Nigerians were tired of reading ‘Mr. President is shocked’, ‘Mr. President is saddened’, ‘Mr. President regrets’ and such lame responses without any decisive policy direction or directive to definitively tackle the situation at hand, leading to escalation of killings in our country.”
The group, in a statement by its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said federal troops can no longer be relied upon to protect northern communities.
It added: ”The President and federal troops keep telling us that they are doing something about the mounting insecurity, but by now all northerners must have realised that our region has not been abandoned at the mercy of a rampaging insurgency that is continuously wasting the greatest asset of North; its population and weakening it politically and pauperizing it economically.”
Leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu condemned the Borno killings and the alleged massacre of his group’s members in Oyigbo, Rivers State.
He slammed the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union Ambassadors to Nigeria for ”their inaction in the killing of the rice farmers in Borno State..”
“It is now clear the international community no longer cares about victims of state-orchestrated mass murder like what obtained in the North and Obigbo in Rivers State,” he said in a statement by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful.
By The Nation
Arewa Agenda is a Publication of young writers from Northern Nigeria towards Peaceful Coexistence and National Development through positive narratives.
