To visit crisis-ridden states
Taraba, Benue, Yobe, Zamfara, Rivers listed
Visits afterthought, belated – Fayose
President Muhammadu Buhari has agreed to visit some states worst hit by various skirmishes, with scores of people killed. The visits, which were scheduled to commence yesterday, will take the president to Taraba, Benue, Yobe, Zamfara and Rivers states, variously affected by terrorist attacks, criminal activities and communal clashes.
The visits were coming after various interests mounted pressure on President Buhari to personally undertake tours of the aff ected areas. Although the Presidency had been somehow active and responsive by sending delegations to the areas, some Nigerians, including the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayaste, insisted the president should personally undertake a visit of his domains in Benue state, that were afected by the serial killings.
This, they argued, would give some succor to the people whose relations and loved ones were tragically killed in the mayhem. Announcing the President’s decision yesterday in a terse statement, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed that his principal had directed that comprehensive reports to that ef ect, be compiled by security agencies.
The statement reads: “In view of recent terrorist attacks, criminal activities and communal clashes in some states leading to tragic loss of lives and kidnapping of 110 school girls, President Muhammadu Buhari, immediately tasked the Armed Forces and other security agencies to compile comprehensive reports on the various incidents.
“Having received and studied the reports, the President has decided to undertake an on the-spot assessment of the various occurrences and to meet and console the communities affected. “From today, March 5, he will visit Taraba, and subsequently Benue, Yobe, Zamfara and Rivers states.
“President Buhari has been receiving daily briefi ngs, and has been in constant touch with the governors, and has been updated with situation reports. “The President calls on all Nigerians, especially those in the affected areas, to cooperate fully with the security agencies to enable them curb the spate of crimes, bring those responsible to justice and prevent further occurrences.”
Fayose kicks
However, Chairman, PDP Governors Forum and Ekiti state Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has described President Buhari’s planned visits to Taraba and others as an afterthought, and also belated. Fayose said, “obviously, the President is more concerned about his re-election in 2019 and his visit to those states that he abandoned during their times of trouble is to seek for votes, not to sympathise with the people of the states on their losses.”
Governor Fayose likened President Buhari to a selfish king who went on making merry while his people were in agony, only to show up when the people had already buried their loved ones that were gruesomely murdered, gotten over their anguish and moved on with their lives.
In a statement issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said, it was the height of cruelty that the same President Buhari, who promised to lead from the front in the fi ght against Boko Haram, could not visit Dapchi, Yobe State where 110 school girls were abducted by the insurgents, elected to go on merry making in Kano. “On January 9 and 12, this year, 88 victims of herdsmen attacks were given mass burial in Taraba state. Also on January 11, 2018, another 73 persons killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue state were buried in a mass grave in Makurdi, the state capital. “Meaning that in Taraba and Benue states alone, 161 Nigerians were given mass burial within three days!
This never caught the attention of our President. Rather, it was a visit to Nasarawa, a neighbouring state to Benue that was important to him.
“To further demonstrate his lack of compassion for Nigerians, while the entire nation, especially parents of the 110 abducted school girls in Dapchi, Yobe state are still in anguish, President Buhari went to Kano last Saturday to attend a social function, thus sparking negative reactions from Nigerians.
“Apparently, it was the negative reactions of Nigerians, especially on social media and the eff ects on the President’s reelection bid that necessitated his hurried visit to Taraba state today, and planned visits to Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers states.
“I am sure the people of Taraba state won’t be hoodwinked by the President’s cosmetic sympathy, show of concern and crocodile tears, which he never bordered to shed when hundreds of indigenes of the State were being killed by suspected herdsmen,” the governor said. While declaring Buhari’s visits as belated and afterthought, Governor Fayose said, “Nigerians can no longer be deceived by a President who never cared for them when they needed him most.
“Therefore, no amount of hurriedly organised campaign visits will sway the people, who never saw the President to protect them from being killed and console them when they lost their dear ones.”
