NewsRescue
Expressing concerns that prevailing spate of killings across the nation now mirrors that of failed states, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has expressed disenchantment with the Federal Government’s allegedly tactless handling of the situation that fosters possibilities of repeated mass killings by herdsmen in Benue, Taraba and other states.
In a statement issued by the House Minority Leader, Honourable Leo Ogor, the caucus emphatically blamed the APC government for gross failure to explore realistic and effective options towards ending such crisis and saving human lives, adding that too many Nigerians are losing their lives to insecurity nationwide while killers still roam free.
“The first fundamental duty of any government is the security of citizens’ lives and property but it is deeply unfortunate, historically horrific and spiritually negative that under the APC government, the nation is witnessing endless rounds of senseless killings of men, women and children in Benue, Taraba and other states.
“Within the past two years, unidentified herdsmen have displaced Boko Haram in terms of mindless killings; it is unfortunate that once again, just like they did several times before, rampaging herdsmen in utter contempt for Benue state’s anti-grazing law wantonly descended on Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue state in a new year attack that left scores of dead bodies.
“Herdsmen now rank high on the Global Terrorism Index and nationwide, mindless killings, armed robberies and dastardly kidnapping have increased under the APC government which now repays the overwhelming votes from the people with long conspiratorial silence and numb promises while the number of corpses mount.
“Security is one of the three major commitments that the APC government guaranteed the nation at its inception but in the usual pattern of elevating deceit and propaganda above all else, it has woefully remained unable to rein in worsening insecurity across the nation.
“Today, the result is that our gallant military personnel and other security operatives are immersed in tackling crises in all parts of Nigeria,” the PDP House caucus stated.
Expressing deep regrets over recent attacks in Zamfara, Benue, Ogun and the incident in Katsina where a fourteen year old girl was abducted from her father’s home by audacious marauders, the PDP House caucus condemned the situation whereby big farmers in the north now avoid their own farms for fear of kidnappers, stressing that the APC has insensitively chosen a very wrong and unfair moment in history to announce plans for re-election campaigns.
“Sani Bello, a member of the House of Representatives representing Mashi/Dutsi federal constituency died few months after a kidnap ordeal on the way to his farm near Birnin Gwari area· of Kaduna State last year; the following month, an Assistant Commissioner of Police serving in Zamfara State was abducted along the same road and many more violent deaths and kidnappings have continued across the nation.
“Two years of the APC government’s budgetary outlay for surveillance surpasses the entire amounts spent on surveillance by various successive administrations since independence; yet it is curious that government obtains no warning signals and seems unable to bring bands of rampaging terrorist herdsmen to justice.
“Still, lost in pipedreams, APC is focused on re-election and an APC minister with extremely lackluster political antecedent and who lacks neither the charisma nor goodwill to win a mere councillorship seat in Ibadan had the temerity to tell the nation that he is joining the APC re-election bandwagon by leading a presidential re-election group in South-West geo-political zone.
“A government that told us that it would defeat Boko Haram within three months and later gleefully announced that Boko Haram has been ‘technically defeated’ is now determined to spend a daily average of one billion Naira purportedly in pursuit of Boko Haram while herdsmen continue an unchecked shooting spree and callous arson,” it added.
Pointing out that the effects of climate change have increased likelihoods of clashes between herdsmen and farmers, the PDP House caucus urged security agencies to do more and warned that the spate of senseless bloodletting across the nation may have dire spiritual implications for the APC government.
“The effects of climate change such as accelerating desertification of grazing land and lower rainfall has heightened herdsmen’s southwards push into fertile farmlands, thereby generating increasing possibilities of farmers/herdsmen conflicts that now accounts for more deaths than the Boko Haram insurgency but the APC government is yet to wake up to its responsibilities in this regard.
“While the PDP House caucus urges security agencies, leaders of legitimate herdsmen’s groups and other stakeholders to put in more effort towards ending the spate of bloodcurdling incidents in Benue, Taraba and other states, we join our voices with that of other concerned citizens calling on governors to liaise with traditional rulers in the state and mobilize their subjects for vigilance and lawful self-defence against such attacks.
“We feel worried that the legacy of the APC administration which is pre-occupied with re-election while Nigerians suffer, lies not in its selective anti-corruption media trials or appointment of dead persons to various boards but in a savage indifference, conspiratorial silence and the offering of lifeless platitudes when increasingly audacious herdsmen kill wantonly across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
“With the endless spilling of innocent blood nationwide, it is unfortunate that the APC government has invoked a grave spiritual implication that assures a weighty karmic reward in due course,” the PDP House caucus stated.