The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has strongly condemned the recent killings in Benue State, allegedly carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, NNPP expressed dismay over the recurring nature of the killings which, it said, was traumatic and debases humanity.
The party has therefore called on the Federal Government to take a more decisive stand to stamp out such gruesome killings in Benue State.
“The most recent killings in Yelewata community in Guma Local Government Area, where over 200 were murdered in cold blood and many properties destroyed so wantonly was a terrible case of mass killings for no justifiable reason.
“And it remains worrisome that it took the Federal Government so long to intervene in any meaningful way, underscoring a long standing lukewarm attitude to the recurring killings in Benue State.
“But the reality today is that it has become so expedient that the Federal Government must wade in and arrest the ugly situation in that state in a pragmatic manner.
“We believe it’s beyond a simplistic resolve to hold a peace meeting in Abuja as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suggested at the stakeholders meeting in Markudi. The concern is to reflect on the president’s valuable question in Markudi on why no arrest had yet been made as at the time he arrived the state even days after the terrible killings?
“How come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals,” Tinubu had queried
“So the challenge transcends mere holding of peace meeting among the stakeholders in Abuja as the president had proposed which is reasonable anyway but a serious engagement of the national security organisations in major intelligence gathering to expose the perpetrators of these heinous acts who seem to have such grip on the state and hence the recurrence of such senseless murder,”
NNPP stated.
Ladipo Johnson further stated that it was unfortunate that the President and his advisers showed their complete misunderstanding or lack of appreciation for the situation in Benue.
“Pray tell, how would the president ask victims to “negotiate” with killers? Government must come to the realization that these incidents are not communal clashes, or about good neighborliness.
” The moment government realizes and treats the incidents as some form of terrorism or genocide, then the scourge will be dealt with decisively. President Tinubu must develop the political will to call a “Spade a Spade and not a big spoon”.
Whilst commiserating with the people of Benue State and praying that God will grant them the fortitude to bear the loss of so many souls, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary stated that what he found most distasteful about the President’s visit was the purported letter by the Senior Special Assistant on Special Groups Mobilization to the Governor of Benue State directing support groups to “form a colourful shoulder to shoulder spread/procession from airport to Wurubum roundabout and down to the government house, Makurdi” to welcome the president.
This he stated was so insensitive and a misplacement of priorities and a complete lack of empathy by the state government itself!!
